


Chill

by Rahar_Moonfire



Series: Warmth [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alpha!Keith, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Altean Lance (Voltron), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Anal Sex, Coran is a crazy uncle, Cybernetics, Dark, Eventual Smut, F/M, Galra Keith (Voltron), Gentle Sex, Hunk and Lance are bros, I'm using male pronouns for Pidge until he comes out as a girl, Knotting, Lance (Voltron) Whump, Lance and Allura are siblings, Langst, M/M, Mild Gore, Pidge is a girl but doesn't care what pronoun is used, Sendak is an insidious bastard, Shiro Is Still Space Dad, Slow Burn, Space Dad Shiro (Voltron), klance, shallura - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-02
Updated: 2016-11-09
Packaged: 2018-08-18 18:20:38
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 32
Words: 111,883
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8171279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rahar_Moonfire/pseuds/Rahar_Moonfire
Summary: COMPLETED!!! Continued in Crystal.Sequel to Warmth.It's been two days since the end of Warmth. Keith no longer regrets mating Lance, even if the Altean prince insists on flirting with every living thing. Desperate to get Lance in his bed, Keith turns to Coran for advise and learns the secrets of Altean courting. Just when Keith decides to properly woo the Altean prince, Sendak and the few survivors from the defeated Galra battlecruiser attack destroying the Castle's main power crystal and severely injuring Lance in the process. With Lance in Sendak's grasp, Keith, Shiro, and Allura locked outside, Pidge is forced to retake the Castle alone while Hunk and Coran leave to find a Balmera to retrieve a replacement power crystal and get a small glimpse of the Galra Empire's true brutality in the process. All while keeping Allura's existence a secret from Zarkon.Chapter 31 summary: In which Lance takes the first steps to weaving his web resulting in a leap of faith, all under the watchful eye of...





	1. Chill on the Wind

**Author's Note:**

> **A/N:** And so it continues~ This **_WILL_** become Explicit eventually. It'll probably become Mature sooner if Keith gets his way. Maybe Lance will even enjoy a little tease here and there. A quick session of heavy petting in a dark hallway isn't out of the question. ^_~

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Keith is a thinker, Allura is actually a Goddess, Keith is suspicious, and Sendak plots revenge.

When Lance first convinced him to escape the Galra and run away to who-knows-where space, Keithek had doubted they would succeed. But honestly, the chance of living a life of freedom had been lucrative. Compared to a life of endless discrimination and hatred and an inevitably uncomfortable death with the Galra, what Lance offered was a shining star of hope. That faint hope had fueled Keithek's desperation to escape. Now, he was living in an ancient Castle, with members of a long dead race that wasn’t actually dead, mated to one of them, and a member of a team of intrepid paladins piloting giant mechanical Lions that together formed the mythical Voltron. It was amazing.

Amazingly awful.

Keithek lay limply across the couch in the paladins’ lounge gasping for breath and sweating profusely. He and the others had spent the past several tocks dodging weapons fire from the Castle in one of Allura’s many attempts to get them to form Voltron at will. The crazy princess had raised the Castle’s particle barrier, preventing them from returning to their hangars until they had formed Voltron. Thankfully, the Green Lion's paladin was the tech genius and figured out the codes to turn off the Castle’s formidable defenses and lower the particle barrier. He’d taken his sweet time about it though, Keithek thought in annoyance.

He glanced over and saw Lance sprawled across the bench further down with one leg thrown carelessly over the back cushion. Lance was just as tired and strained as the rest of them. Allura had shown no favoritism towards him even though they were siblings. She made them all suffer equally. Even Pidge's new pet robot had been slightly damaged to the green paladin's endless frustration. He currently sat next to Lance's foot tinkering with his new pet.

They'd all gotten a break the morning after defeating the battlecruiser to search the debris for any survivors and usable drones or technology. Pidge had insisted on it. Fortunately for the paladins, or Team Voltron as Hunk had designated their ragtag group, there were no drones or living Galra left in the mess. However, Pidge was upset that most of the technology had been thoroughly obliterated. All except for a single, small Galra hoverbot. The discovery of the small bot had made Pidge's day.

The green paladin had subsequently spent all of his free time reprogramming the hoverbot and upgrading its innards in ways Keith couldn't hope to understand. Whatever Pidge had done worked though. The little robot glowed green now instead of the distinctive Galra crimson and followed Pidge around like a child followed its mother. Pidge was thrilled by the hoverbot's actions and had promptly named it 'Rover.' The two had never been seen apart since. It was a regular technophile love affair.

Keithek closed his eyes and allowed himself to sink into the cushions tiredly. They hadn’t quite gotten the hang of forming Voltron at will every single time yet, but they were getting there. It seemed they all needed to feel the desire to survive and fight in order for them to merge and form Voltron successfully. It had worked when that Druid-built atrocity of a Robeast arrived on Arus the cycle previous and attacked. Keithek suspected Haggar was behind that Robeast. It was simply too strong for the average Druid or group of Druids to create. They would have lost to it without question had the black paladin not stepped in.

The halfbreed was still intimidated by the Champion. Shiro. He’d asked to be called Shiro. That was another thing: Shiro was a lot nicer than Keithek had ever imagined him to be. He held himself like an alpha, but was gentle with the younger paladins and the refugees in a way that wasn’t alpha-like. It was more reminiscent of a beta. Shiro even respected Keithek and made an effort to hear the halfbreed’s input before making any decisions. It was a nice change to the horrid conditions onboard the Galra battlecruiser.

The refugees had been another story entirely. They had not been entirely kind to Keithek and while he understood, it had still hurt. Strangely, they had shown the same fear of Shiro. They’d called him Champion too. They also provided Team Voltron with a surprising tidbit of information about the former Champion of the arena. It turned out, Shiro had wounded one of his own crew members in order to enter the arena as a gladiator in the first place.

That had been a surprise, but it fit the persona of the Champion he was familiar with. It did not, however, fit the persona of the Shiro he was coming to know. In fact, the black paladin had been horrified and taken aback by the suggestion and vehemently rejected it. So had the green paladin, strangely. Apparently the crew that had been captured with Shiro were the green paladin’s family; his father and brother.

Keith was still trying to wrap his head around everything and it was only his third cycle as paladin of the Red Lion. This had not been what he’d thought of as 'freedom' when he’d first escaped, but it was still interesting enough to keep him on his toes.

He wasn’t sure when he dosed off, but he sure as hell knew when he woke up. The alarms were blaring and Lance literally fell to the floor from being startled awake. Keithek was on his feet and paused just long enough to grab his mate by the collar of his armor and drag him to his feet before he joined everyone in their rush to get to the bridge.

Please don’t be another Robeast, Keithek prayed. Please don’t be another Robeast. Please don’t be another Robeast.

“What is it, princess?” Shiro called when he ran reached the bridge. Of course he was the first one to arrive, Keith grumbled.

“Stand down, paladins,” Allura said calmly. “Coran, turn that klaxon off, will you.”

The adviser obediently turned off the alarm leaving Keithek and his fellow paladins confused. “Wait,” Keithek said. “Was this an emergency or not?”

“Please tell me this wasn’t just another drill,” Lance whined. “I love you Allura, but I’m not above fighting you.”

Keithek twitched but reminded himself that Allura and Lance were siblings and calmed down. Any flirting between those two was clearly not meant to go any deeper than sibling rivalry and care. He still didn’t like Lance’s tendency to flirt with the other paladins, but at least the pool of candidates was small. Also, Keithek was confident enough in his position in their pack that if he raised a complaint, it would at least be looked into if not acted upon.

Allura was still the top Alpha of their group though. Keithek would never dare cross her. She was scary.

Allura gave her brother an absentminded smack on the back of his head without looking away from the bridge’s main view screen. “It’s not a drill,” she said. “We appear to have a guest. The Castle detected the being nearing it and alerted us to its presence.” She smiled and chuckled. “I doubt it’s a threat, though.”

“Why not?” Hunk asked suspiciously, studying the view screen closely.

He got his answer when a tiny head poked out from behind a rock, raced across the open space to another rock, peaked out from behind it, and ran across the open space again to a spot behind a thick bush. It was…kind of cute. It had a round-ish face with curling horns on either side of its head, huge eyes, no visible nose, and short legs.

“What is that?” Pidge asked, leaning forward hoping to get a better look at the strange creature.

“Probably a local Arusian,” Allura said with a smile. “I would be surprised if we hadn’t caught anyone’s attention after the firefights we’ve had over the past few cycles.”

“I’ll second that,” Keithek mumbled.

“Such strange horns,” Coran said, zooming in on the Arusian’s head. “I wonder what purpose they serve?”

Keithek eyed the adviser disconcertingly, edging closer to Lance’s side. Coran hadn’t dropped his interest in Keith’s genetic makeup which, while it could have been taken as flattery, was downright weird to the halfbreed. He’d never known his mother. He’d only known his father and he hadn’t seen him for several periods; not since the Galra empire had separated them.

“Let’s go welcome them,” Allura said.

“Woah, wait, what?” Hunk said. “Hold on. Princess, remember the last alien we met? You know, giant robot thing we fought yesterday? Right. It tried to kill us.”

Keithek raised a finger. “Actually,” he said, “it wasn’t an alien. It was a Robeast with the mind of a living being implanted into it by the Druids.”

“Yes,” Hunk said. “Yes, thank you Keith. A _giant robot alien_ that tried to kill us.”

“But it didn’t kill you,” Coran said. “Besides, I doubt you could be threatened by such a tiny alien. He’s too cute.”

“Cute aliens are the worst,” Hunk said, shuddering. “It’s always the cute ones that turn out to be the deadly ones. Duck-billed platypuses, poison dart frogs, lionfish-”

“Blue-ringed octopus,” Pidge added. “Black widow spiders.”

Hunk stared at the green paladin in horror. “You think black widow spiders are cute?!”

“Yeah,” Pidge said with a shrug. “They’re interesting. I also like luna moths. They’re carnivorous. They eats bugs and other moths and-”

“Okay, okay, you can’t talk anymore,” Hunk said, covering Pidge’s mouth with his hand. “Shiro, please tell me you don’t think black widows are cute.”

Shiro shrugged. “I don’t like black widow spiders, but I do like the Black Widow.”

Hunk squinted at the black paladin then beamed. “You’re a nerd!” he shouted, pointing at the oldest paladin. “You’re a freakin’ nerd. Aw, yeah!”

“What’s a black widow?” Keithek asked.

“Is it cute?” Lance asked.

“Can they be found on other planets?” Coran asked.

Allura cleared her throat. “If you don’t mind,” she said, looking at all of her paladins significantly, “I believe we have a local to welcome. It’s never too early to start building good relationships with other races in our fight against Zarkon.”

“Alright,” Lance said. “Whatever you say, sister dear.” He winked.

Allura gave him a tolerant glare before huffing a laugh. “Come on, you.”

* * *

 

When the great main door opened, the first thing Allura saw was the beautiful sunlit hills of waving grass dotted by wild flowers against a sapphire sky. Catching herself before she got lost in memories, Allura lowered her gaze to look for their surprise guest. She felt more then saw Lance and Shiro step up to stand on either side of her and offered the little Arusian a friendly smile.

“Hello,” she said kindly. “My name is Allura, and I mean you no harm.”

A tiny, pale yellow Altenoid creature stepped out from behind a rock wielding a metal sword. It’s head and horns were a light brown, identical orange stripes streaked down its cheeks, and its eyes were a pupil-less red.

“I am Klaizap,” it declared, holding its sword threateningly at Allura, “bravest warrior of my village.”

Unafraid of the weapon, Allura stepped forward and leaned down, resting her hands on her knees to appear less tall and intimidating. “Greetings Klaizap,” she said with a smile. “Why have you come here?”

“Fire and giant beings from the far above have come over the past cycles,” Klaizap said, gesturing grandly.

Allura shot a sharp and quick glare at Hunk when she heard a snicker. “I see,” she said, turning back to smile at the tiny Arusian.

“I was chosen by the village elder to seek answers from the shrine of the Lion Goddess and her Guardian,” Klaizap said.

“The Lion Goddess?” Allura asked in confusion. She looked up when she felt someone nudge her. Lance stood pointing to a large stone erected next to the Castle’s doors that none of them had noticed before. On it was a depiction of an Altenoid with a lion head surrounded by five smaller lions flying through in the sky around her.

“I think you’re the Lion Goddess,” Lance said, uncharacteristically serious.

Allura stood and placed her hand on the stone, feeling the aged carvings on the cool stone beneath her fingers. “I’m…a goddess?”

“I know, right?” Lance said. “Someone must have lost their mind.”

Allura frowned and smacked blindly with her free hand, smirking when she heard and felt a gratifying smack and accompanying yelp.

“Am I the only one here who’s aware this thing has a weapon in its hands?” Keith said, pointing to Klaizap’s small sword and subtly stepping up to place himself between the Arusian and the royal siblings.

“Easy there,” Shiro said, placing his hand on the halfbreed’s shoulder. “I doubt it’ll do much damage.”

“Yeah,” Pidge said, activating his bayard with a smirk. “I mean I could take him easy.”

Lance’s eyes grew huge when he saw the green paladin’s bayard, then he smacked a hand over his mouth and not-so-subtly snickered. “Aw,” he said between chuckles. “You got a cute little bayard.”

Pidge glowered at the prince and swiftly tapped him with her buzzing, green blade. Lance gave a pathetic, high-pitched squeal and collapsed to the ground twitching to Keith amused horror.

“Yeah,” Pidge said with a proud smile. “It is pretty cute.”

“You guys are ridiculous,” Hunk said, shaking his head in tolerant amusement. He held out his hand to the fallen prince and helped him up. “You really shouldn’t tease Pidge, you know.”

“Can’t help it,” Lance said, rubbing his still aching side where the green paladin’s bayard had connected. “Too easy.”

“I can hear you, you know,” Pidge muttered in annoyance. “Stupid prince.”

Allura cleared her throat and the paladins flushed in embarrassment. “Please forgive my companions,” she said with a gracious bow. “They haven’t been in such fine company in a while.”

Klaizap puffed himself out proudly at the implication. “Of course, Tall One,” he said, returning the bow respectfully.

“I believe I’m the one you seek,” Allura continued. “I’m not a goddess by any means,” she said flushing, “but I am a princess and this is my castle.”

“You’re the Lion Goddess?” Klaizap gasped. He immediately fell prostrate on the ground in worship. “Oh great Goddess,” he prayed, “please tell me what we have done to incur your almighty wrath.”

Allura held up her hands and stepped back awkwardly. “I’m not a goddess,” she insisted, “and I’m not mad at you. Why would I be mad at you?”

“The explosions and giant beings from above were sent to punish us for our sinful ways, were they not?” the Arusian asked, lifting his head to gaze at Allura in awe.

“No, no,” the princess said hurriedly. “We never meant any harm to come to you. The giant being you saw in the sky was Voltron. Voltron is the defender of the universe and a friend to all.”

“Then…you are not mad at us, great Goddess?” Klaizap said hopefully.

Allura sighed. “I’m not a goddess,” she said wearily. “And no, I’m not mad at you. I’m sorry we frightened you and your people. Perhaps we can visit your village and offer our apologies personally?”

“You mean we offer our apologies personally and you stay here,” Lance said seriously.

“What? Why?” Allura asked in confusion.

“The Galra think you’re dead,” Lance said. “We can’t risk you leaving the Castle and being seen.”

“I will not be cooped up here, Lance,” Allura said, stamping her foot in childish frustration as she and her brother resumed their argument.

Shiro sighed. “In this case,” he said, drawing the princess’s irate gaze to himself, “I have to agree with Lance.”

“Wha-”

“Yeah,” Keith muttered, still glaring at the Arusian with open distrust. “We don’t know anything about these people. This could all be a trick to lure you out of hiding.”

“But the Galra think I’m dead,” Allura argued. “Why would they try to trick a dead person out of hiding?”

“She’s got a point,” Hunk said.

“Thank you, Hunk,” Allura said, gesturing to the yellow paladin gratefully.

“We could always invite them here,” Pidge offered.

“What?” Keith cried. “That’s an even worse idea.”

“Why?” the green paladin countered. “Think about it. If we invited the Arusians here, we could get to know them and they could get to know us. Besides,” he added with a sly grin and wave of his bayard, “everyone bonds best over food.”

“Truer words were never spoken,” Hunk declared.

“But-” Allura started.

“And,” Pidge continued, “if they came here, you could see them and speak to them directly without the Galra finding out about you because you wouldn’t actually be leaving the Castle.”

“I don’t know,” Shiro said cautiously. “I’m not sure I like the idea of having lots of people coming and going without being checked out first.”

“I agree with Shiro,” Keith said.

“Well I agree with Pidge,” Lance said. “Even if I’m totally holding that hit from your bayard against you personally, by the way.”

“Don’t insult me and it won’t happen again,” Pidge said.

“I didn’t insult you,” Lance said, offended by the notion. “I insulted your bayard.”

“Same thing,” Pidge snapped.

“Guys!” Shiro said loud enough to get everyone’s attention. “Calm down.”

“Yes, Space Dad,” Lance said, shooting a cheeky grin at the black paladin who rolled his eyes and groaned.

“Look, sis,” Lance said, turning to Allura. “I know you want to go outside,” his smile softened. “Believe me, I know. But let us determine it’s safe first. Let me do my duty as your Sentinel.”

“My Sentinel?” Allura repeated in bewilderment.

Lance nodded and knelt on one knee at his sister’s feet, bowing his head and touching his forehead, mouth, and chest with his right hand. “With my thoughts, my words, and my heart, I live to watch and protect.” He lifted his eyes to his sister’s startled ones and said seriously, “Let me do my duty.”

“You…You’re the Guardian!” Klaizap cried, pointing at Lance in shock.

The other paladins were also caught off guard by the prince’s unusual display, but said nothing. It just didn’t feel right to speak. The atmosphere had changed too fast and they all suspected there was more happening here than what met the eye.

Allura placed her hand over her heart, taken aback by her brother’s display. He had only done this once: when he had first accepted the position of Sentinel. Never since. Not until now. This was a request from Lance the Sentinel to Allura the Heir, not Lance her brother to Allura his sister. She could not turn down such a request. Dropping her shoulders in surrender, the princess sighed.

“Very well,” she said. “Then Lance, Sentinel of the Castle of Lions, I ask you to seek out the Arusians and invite them to a celebration at the Castle. Any and all are welcome for this is a place of peace and safety. No harm shall come to those you enter here. Pass this message to the Arusian leader as the Sentinel.” She swallowed thickly. “Be ever watchful,” she intoned, placing her index and middle fingers gently on her brother’s forehead.

“So I shall be,” Lance finished the traditional response. Then he broke tradition and took his sister’s hand in his and stood. He smiled. “Don’t worry about me,” he said. “My awesome skills will keep me safe.”

Allura couldn’t help it. She snorted and batted her brother’s hand away playfully. “Whatever, brother. Come back in once piece, you hear me?” she ordered. “Keith,” she said, turning to the red paladin. Keith stood stock still when the princess focused her attention on him. “Make sure Lance comes back in one piece or I’ll make sure your body is never found.”

Keith gulped and nodded. “Yes, your highness.”

“Whipped,” Pidge muttered to Hunk who nodded. Shiro nudged the two of them and glared. Pidge met his glare with a raised eyebrow to which Shiro hesitantly nodded in agreement. Pidge smirked in triumph and Shiro sighed.

“Very well then,” the princess said, turning to Klaizap. “Brave warrior of the Arusians,” she said formally, “will you offer your valiant protection and guidance to my companions as they bear my message to your village?”

Klaizap still looked a little starstruck as he nodded. “Yes, yes! Of course,” he said quickly. “Whatever the Lion Goddess and her Guardians wish!”

Allura sighed. “I’m not a goddess,” she said.

Lance snickered and patted her on the back. “Hey, if you’re a Goddess and I’m your Guardian-”

“Don’t.”

“Does that make me a God, too?” Lance finished with a cheeky wink.

This time it was Keith who smacked him, not Allura. Lance spent the entire march to the Arusian village moping about it. It was worth it.

* * *

 

He glared at the structure shining bright in the daylight. It taunted him with its unharmed perfection. It stood for everything he despised, and it stood where his great battlecruiser had fallen.

It was a shear stroke of luck that he and his second-in-command managed to escape his doomed battlecruiser. Only a handful of drones had been salvaged from the disaster as well, most of them from the fighters that had crashed after the battlecruiser was destroyed by the accursed Voltron. The force he and Haxus had accumulated was small, but their enemy had few numbers as well.

Sendak had taken the past few cycles to quietly observe his enemy. He watched them struggle with their Lions, he’d watched the Castle fire its weapons at the Lions until shield lifted and the Lions returned to their hangars, and studied the dynamics of the team. The paladin of the Black Lion was the clear leader of the pride, but there were times when the black paladin would give way to the blue paladin. The Green Lion was clever but not as agile as the Blue Lion and the Yellow Lion was by far the most armored of the pride. There was also the Red Lion.

His one biological eye narrowed as he thought of the Red Lion. It had been in his grasp until that despicable halfbreed escaped with the Altean prince, taking the Red Lion with them. The red paladin was either the prince or the halfbreed. It was possible the halfbreed was the red paladin and the prince was the one controlling the Castle. However, Sendak suspected the red paladin was the pointy-eared bastard.

Either way, Sendak wanted both of those two alive. Zarkon had commanded Sendak to bring the Altean prince to him alive and Sendak would obey his emperor, no matter much it irked him to do so. But the halfbreed he wanted alive so he could have his overdue revenge. If Sendak was able to snag a Druid from another battlecruiser or trade post, then he could take his anger out on the prince as well without having to worry about lingering visible damage. Plus, he could all but guarantee he could work that stubborn resistance out of the prince until the pacifist brat until the boy submitted to him.

He looked forward to that day.

“Sir.”

“What is it, Haxus?” Sendak said curtly, keeping his eyes on the Castle.

“The local population has made contact with the Castle.”

“And I would be interested in this, why?” Sendak said, turning his glare to Haxus.

His second-in-command did not flinch. In fact, he smirked. “Apparently the paladins plan to hot a gathering in the interest of strengthening peaceful relations.”

“Again,” Sendak growled, “why would I-”

“The prince and the halfbreed will be there.”

“Ah.” Sendak squared his shoulders.

“As I understand it,” Haxus said, glancing at one of the drones, “the Castle doors will be left open during the whole even for the guests to come and go as they please.”

“Will they indeed?” Sendak purred, turning back to the gleaming Castle. “Then in the interest of strengthening relations, it would be rude not to pay our respects with a suitable show of strength.


	2. Nip it in the Bud

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Allura is still dealing with emotions while keeping her brother from getting laid, Keith gets a bit hasty, and Lance is homesick and just wants to be courted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **A/N:** This is a bit of a feelsy chapter so be prepared. Allura is still working through stuff and Lance's homesickness is beginning to rear its head. It only goes downhill from here. For now that is. On the bright side, there's some heavy klance in the second half of this chapter. 
> 
> I'll edit this tomorrow morning when I'm awake and on break at work. I have to crash now. Night. Enjoy~

“You still haven’t shown him, have you?”

The princess sighed and refused to look at her adviser. She knew Coran was disappointed with her. She was disappointed with herself for her weakness. But that didn’t mean she was ready to face her weakness.

“I haven’t found the right moment,” she said, pretending to focus on the task at hand.

“You and I both know that’s not true,” Coran said gently.

Allura could feel her adviser’s disapproval from across the room. It irked her to admit it, but he was right. There had been plenty of opportunities to tell her brother, to _show_ her brother the truth. But she’d procrastinated, putting it off until later; until two full cycles had pass since her paladins had first formed Voltron.

It wasn’t fair to Lance that only she knew their father still lived on in a memory core installed in the Castle. Allura knew this. She _knew_ this, and still she procrastinated. It was selfish and the guilt was eating away at her. Talking to Father was something she knew Lance needed just as badly as she did. But at the same time, she didn’t want to share.

She knew she was being petty and this was no time for such childishness. But she couldn’t fight back the lingering sadness and desire to keep this for herself. She felt like a burden who served no purpose for their self-dubbed Team Voltron save her tie to the Lions. She wasn’t an asset so much as an annoying tag-along whose sole purpose was to keep the Lions alive and functioning correctly.

This was stupid and nowhere near the truth, but it felt like that sometimes. Even Lance, her childlike tease of a brother, was a paladin. She knew what her brother had suffered when he’d been held captive by the Galra. She knew he had inadvertently allowed himself to become the focal point of Zarkon’s attention just to protect her. But he’d never asked her if she even _wanted_ to be protected. Even Father hadn’t asked her before having Lance throw her into a cryopod and leave her to sleep in lonely silence for over 10,000 years.

So yes, she held a grudge. She understood her father’s reasoning and she knew Lance only did what he did because he loved her, but it still hurt her pride. She was an Altean princess, voted into the office of Heir Apparent, and trained in diplomacy and self-defense. She wasn’t helpless.

But was her pride really a good enough reason to keep her father and Lance apart? Was this her way of punishing them for bruising her pride? If so, then her pride was more sensitive than she’d thought. This was not what she’d been brought up to be; a spoiled princess who took petty revenge for unimportant slights. Even if those unimportant slights had long-lasting consequences. She was better than that.

Finally, Allura sighed, her entire form drooping in defeat. “Alright,” she said eventually. “I’ll tell him tonight. After the Arusians leave.”

“Princess,” Coran began, reaching out to the young woman who had once been a child in his arms.

“If I show him before, he won’t be in an acceptable state to greet and mingle with the guests,” Allura said.

“That may be so,” her adviser said, stepping forward so he stood next to her. He gently placed his hands on both of Allura’s shoulders and turned her around so she no longer gazed at the empty holodeck but into his sad eyes. “But is that really the wisest decision or are you still trying to delay the inevitable?”

The princess bowed her head. “I’ll pull him aside after the party-”

“Might I suggest a compromise?” Coran suggested, cutting the princess’s argument off. “Let Lance stay at the party for a while,” he said. “Then excuse yourself and take Lance to the holodeck. He needs this, Allura,” Coran said, squeezing the princess’s shoulders. “He _needs_ this. The party will be fine without him for an hour or so. You’re a magnificent hostess and with your paladins by your side, you’ll be well protected.”

The princess bristled in annoyance. “I can protect myself,” she snapped more harshly than she intended.

“I know you can,” her adviser said, nodding in agreement. “But you’re more than just our princess. You’re our friend. We want to protect you because we care about you; you Allura, not you the princess. I know you’re perfectly capable of defending yourself.” He snorted and winked, tapping the princess’s nose fondly. “You forget, young lady, I watched you grow up wrestling with your brothers. You had them all on their knees before they had the chance to defend themselves.”

Allura failed to fight back her smile at the memory. “I was a right mess, wasn’t I?” she asked.

“Absolutely,” Coran agreed emphatically. “There was more than one occasion where you nearly drove me and your father into an early grave.”

Allura laughed, furiously wiping away the traitorous water that threatened to fill her eyes. Soft fur brushed the princess’s neck and Allura’s smile broadened. When her brother had first seen her mice companions, he’d been more than little disturbed. When he found out they were mentally linked to his sister, Lance had freaked out. Now he always made sure he was completely alone before sneaking a nap. Too bad Allura’s mice were adept at hiding and always reported where her brother’s secret nap hideaway was. It made scaring her brother awake that much more entertaining.

The fat green mouse on Allura’s shoulder tittered at the princess’s memory and snuggled close to her neck. The mice had become Allura’s eyes and ears throughout the Castle, keeping an eye on her paladins; particularly the red paladin. She still didn’t trust Keith completely and neither did her mice, but she knew the halfbreed would never betray her brother. The real question was whether Keith would view betraying her and the other paladins as a betrayal to Lance or not. The Galra were notoriously loyal to their mates, but that particular brand of loyalty was _only_ to their mates. No one else.

“I’ll take Lance to meet Father tonight,” Allura said firmly. “But only if you keep an eye on Keith until I get back.”

Coran gave Allura an odd look. “You still don’t trust him?” he asked in bewilderment.

“No, I do,” Allura said firmly. “I trust him never to betray my brother.”

“Then why do you want me to keep an eye on him?” her advisor asked, his eyes studying Allura’s face for any sign of subterfuge.

“I trust his loyalty to my brother,” Allura said again. “But I don’t trust him around other races yet. I don’t… He’s half Galra. I don’t want that to be the first thing people see to the point they refuse to look any deeper. We can’t afford to lose a chance to form an alliance because one of our own has the blood of the enemy flowing in his veins. We still can’t figure out what race his other half belongs to.”

“I thought we were past this,” Coran said in disappointment.

“ _I_ am past it,” Allura said. “But the universe isn’t. I’m being realistic, Coran. We should gain the trust of the people before letting them know about Keith’s heritage. If there’s an underground movement, we need to find it.”

The princess waved her hand and pulled up the star map depicting the extent of the Galra Empire. “We barely know anything about the Empire other than what Keith has been able to provide, which isn’t much in the grand scheme of things,” she said, narrowing her eyes and studying the different worlds gleaming Galra reddish-purple. “However, Keith may be our way in.”

“I don’t understand,” Coran said hesitantly. “You don’t… You aren’t planning on sending him back to the Galra, are you?”

“What?” Allura gasped, turning to her adviser in shock, offended by the very idea. “No. Don’t be ridiculous.” She turned back to the star map in thought. “Keith will never betray my brother because Lance is his mate. Deliberate or not, the Galra take things like that seriously. They always have. I admit, I don’t know how far that loyalty extends as far as you and I and the other paladins are concerned, but I do know Lance will be taken care of.”

“However,” she added cooly. “That doesn’t mean I’m ready for Keith to have his way with my baby brother.”

Coran snickered. “Honestly, I’m surprised Keith hasn’t made a move already.” He paused and stared at the princess in surprise. “You did that on purpose,” he said, comprehension lighting his eyes. “You’ve been running the paladins to near exhaustion just to keep Keith from Lance’s bed.”

Allura flushed. “He’s my baby brother,” she said defensively. “Keith hasn’t so much as _tried_ to court my brother. What makes you think I’m just going to let them copulate like lovers at a juniberry festival without first going through the proper courting procedures? Lance is worth more than that.”

Coran threw his head back and cackled madly. “I certainly hope Lance never learns of this,” he said, wiping tears of amusement from his eyes. “If he knew you were keeping him from flirting with his own mate…” He collapsed back into uncontrollable laughter, bending over from the force of it. “You are…truly a woman to be feared, my lady,” he said.

Allura grinned. “Yes,” she purred. “I won’t let that be forgotten either.” The mouse on her shoulder squeaked and she chuckled. “Yes, I suppose there is that,” she said, scrunching her nose. “I've had to deal with Lance’s flirting all my life. I can wait before I get stuck seeing him actually being intimate with someone seriously in the hallway.”

“I doubt Lance would go so far as to-” Allura just shot Coran a look and the advisor nodded. “Yes, he would,” he admitted.

“It wasn’t all selfish though,” Allura said, turning back to the stars. “The paladins still haven’t been able to form Voltron at will yet. They’re close, but close isn’t good enough. They need to be ready for anything to happen at any time, day or night. As long as we’re stuck here on Arus, we need to be watchful. Once we’re in space, then we can start our true offensive. Keith’s knowledge will be invaluable then.”

“How so?” Coran asked curiously.

The princess bit her lip as she walked through the holographic stars, studying the readouts by each planet. “I mean that Keith may know more than he realizes. Something seemingly insignificant, like a certain outpost that was visited more often than usual, or maybe a pattern of shipping weapons, energy, prisoners, anything we can use. We have a huge problem in front of us,” Allura said, feeling her heart quake with the enormity of what she and her team were trying to accomplish. “But perhaps the best way to begin would be little things: disrupting trade routes, freeing prisoners, freeing the outer planets, and working our way inwards.

“If we could find out where the Galra were getting the energy required to power their fleets and take that out, or better yet _keep_ it, then we may have a serious chance at success,” Allura continue. She huffed and stamped her foot in frustration. “I just need more information, and being stuck inside this Castle like some ill-kept secret is doing nothing for my mood or my nerves.”

“I understand,” Coran said with a sympathetic smile.

 _“Allura,”_ Lance’s voice called over the communication systems. _“You there?”_

“Yes, Lance, I’m here,” the princess replied, tilting her head up to the walls where the speakers were mounted. “I’m on the holodeck. Is something wrong?”

 _“We just got back from the Arusian village,”_ Lance said. _“They should start arriving in a few tocks or so. If they ask to do a Dance of Apology for you, please, I beg you, refuse. That said, Coran, think you can handle the cooking for this on your own?”_

“I most certainly can,” Coran declared proudly, straightening the lapels of his uniform jacket.

 _“Can I help?”_ Hunk’s voice asked hopefully. _“I can cook. I used to do it all the time for my family back home.”_

“Oh,” Coran said. “Well that’s good to hear. All hands are welcome. Except Lance’s,” he added firmly.

 _“Really?”_ Lance demanded. _“That was **one** time. Honestly, how long are you going to hold a grudge?”_

“The entire Altean court was unable to function properly for the entire cycle, young man,” Coran said, crossing his arms and sniffing in disdain. “You were lucky to get off with the punishment you got.”

 _“That was a horrible punishment!”_ Lance cried. _“It was hardly equal to the crime.”_

 _“Lance,”_ Hunk said suspiciously, _“did you defile the kitchen?”_

 _“What? No! Wha… I made the food **better**!”_ Lance cried.

Allura snickered at her brother’s obvious distress. She coughed to clear her throat and said with as much seriousness as she could muster, “You mixed juniberries in the court’s formal evening meal during a very delicate diplomatic meeting.”

 _“But it went smoothly because of it,”_ Lance whined. _“Even you can’t deny that.”_

“Lance,” Allura said, propping her hands on her waist. “The entire council of diplomats were in a juniberry state for a full cycle.”

 _“And they were more open about everything because of it,”_ Lance countered. _“The whole thing went without a hitch.”_

“Until they woke up,” Coran said.

 _“Why is it that the more I hear you people talk about these ‘juniberry’ things, the more I get the feeling they're hallucinatory drugs?”_ Pidge said, sounding slightly disturbed by the idea.

 _“You took drugs?”_ Keith asked in surprise.

 _“Oh quiznak,”_ Lance moaned. _“What is **wrong** with all of you? Don’t gang up on me. Shiro?”_

 _“I’m staying out of this one,”_ Shiro said carefully.

“A wise decision, paladin,” Coran said.

 _“But I’d listen to Coran and stay out of the kitchen, if I were you,”_ Shiro finished.

 _“Traitor,”_ Lance muttered.

Allura laughed. “I suggest everyone take this opportunity to freshen up and help Coran and me ready the Castle for our guests. Lance, stay out of the kitchen.”

 _“Now you’re just being mean,”_ her brother grumbled.

“Being the oldest has its perks,” Allura said. “See you soon.”

* * *

 

There should have been live music and formally dressed attendees mingling, laughing, and dancing throughout the Castle’s main foyer and down the high ceilinged hall leading to the main entrance. There should have been the joyful sounds of his siblings as they darted between the attendees, hiding behind legs and under skirts, sneaking glasses of juniberry juice, and throwing food at each other. There should have been a king standing at the front of the foyer greeting each guest in person as they arrived.

But the music was a recording found in the Castle’s extensive archives, filtering through the sound system without true players behind them. The only voices were those of the local Arusians, his fellow paladins, Coran, and Allura. The Arusian children brought a smile to his face when they dragged him into their endless game of catch-and-run between cups of nunvill since there were no juniberries to make the juice from. Not anymore.

It was all gone, just like his father. There was no king to greet the guests as they arrived. Now Allura stood in King Alfor’s place, grasping each Arusian’s tiny hands and welcoming them to the Castle of Lions. It was so familiar and yet so foreign.

“Are you alright?” Keith asked, startling Lance from his thoughts.

The prince did not jump in surprise.

“Did you just-”

“No,” Lance said curtly. “I did not. You need to get your eyes checked.” He tipped his head back and downed the rest of his nunvill in one huge gulp.

“I _am_ checking you out,” Keith said.

Lance may or may not have choked on the nunvill. He did cough, perhaps.

“That…” He cleared his throat. “That was surprisingly smooth. Are you trying to flirt with me?”

“Is it working?” Keith asked with a smirk.

Lance blinked and chuckled. “Maybe,” he admitted. “You have a lot to learn about courting though.”

“I’m sure I could find a good teacher,” Keith said, his face darkening somewhat. His ears twitched, flicking back and forth from the noise of the party.

Lance actually turned to face Keith directly in surprise. He narrowed his eyes and tilted his head slightly. “I’m not sure I understand what you want from me right now,” he said.

“How dense can you be?” Keith groaned, rolling his violet and gold eyes. He snatched Lance’s empty cup and set it on a tray held by a passing hoverbot before taking the prince’s hand. “Come with me.”

“Where are-woAH!”

Keith slipped down one of the hallways branching from the main foyer.

“Where are we going?” Lance said, hurrying to keep with as he was all but dragged behind Keith.

“Shut your quiznak,” Keith snapped not unkindly.

Lance’s eyebrows flew up to his hairline, a grin tugging at the corners of his lips. “I don’t think you’re using that word correctly,” he snarked back.

Keith didn’t respond how Lance was expecting. Instead, the red paladin stopped and yanked Lance forward so the prince stumbled into one of the walls. Before Lance could recover his senses and figure out what was happening, Keith was suddenly there. Lance stilled, pressing his back against the cold metal wall when the very act of breathing made his chest touch Keith’s. The red paladin lifted his left hand and planted it against the wall next to the prince’s head, blocking the dim light filtering around the corner of the hall from the foyer and casting a shadow across Lance’s face.

Keith’s eyes gleamed in the near darkness. There was something in them Lance had only seen in passing, a hunger he had only seen in the eyes of Alteans under the influence of juniberries. It was simultaneously exciting and terrifying. It was highly unlikely there were any stashes of the plant in the bowels of the Castle, which meant it had probably been wiped out when Altea was destroyed. Had the plant's chemicals been raging through Lance’s veins, he probably would have welcomed Keith’s stare, maybe even have returned it with equal fervor. But he was in full possession of his faculties and had never been on the receiving end of such a gaze.

He flirted, but it was all a game, never meant to be taken seriously. Alteans were a friendly race whose strongest sense was touch. They thrived in groups, were masters of diplomacy and embraced the cultural differences of other races with interest and open curiosity. But they were proud of their own traditions and cultures. They were proud of who they were as a people, as a race. There was a proper way of things. Courting on Altea was steeped in tradition and designed to bring all partners involved to a level of understanding and comfort before taking part in the juniberry festival as partners.

Lance had never been courted. Neither had Allura. Lance flirted and dreamed of one day sharing himself with his partner at a festival. But that would never happen now. He had wondered what it would be like to rile Keith up to a heightened state such as this. Now that it was actually happening, he had no idea what to do.

“You’re shaking,” Keith whispered, never looking away from Lance’s eyes. “Stop.”

“I can’t,” Lance whispered, swallowing on a suddenly dry throat.

Keith leaned closer so his nose almost brushed the prince’s. “Then I’ll make you,” he warned.

Lance felt his body press closer to the wall, tilting his head slightly when Keith’s face got too close. He realized what he’d done only when he saw Keith’s eyes widen. The dark pupils grew, swallowing the violet irises a moment before teeth latched onto his shoulder where his Mark was. It stung, but not in a bad way. It was confusing and throwing Lance’s senses into a tizzy.

Then Keith’s other hand slipped between the wall and Lance’s lower back, flattening and pressing Lance’s body so he was flush against Keith. One of the red paladin’s legs worked its way between Lance’s legs and lifted so the thigh pressed up against Lance’s crotch. The prince’s hands immediately latched onto Keith. His right hand clutched a handful of Keith’s shirt and his left gripped Keith’s upper right arm, unsure whether to push the red paladin away or pull him closer.

“K…Keith,” he breathed. “Wha-”

Keith growled and Lance shivered, his eyes falling shut with a sigh. His knees grew weak, slowly but surely giving way until only Keith’s thigh and firm hold kept him from sinking to the floor. This wasn’t… It felt… He didn’t want to be this… This was good, _more_ than good but…

He wanted to be courted. He wanted to show his chosen everything. He wanted to dance with his chosen in the light of the two moons. He wanted his chosen to smell the scent of cyprin sticks as they shared their first kiss. He wanted to fly with his chosen through the Falls of Atwar. He wanted to share a cup of juniberry juice with his chosen on the night of the festival and become life partners. He just wanted his chosen…

He just wanted the choice.

But it was gone. Altea was gone. There was no moon on Arus. Cyprin was nowhere to be found. The Falls of Atwar were obliterated with Altea. The juniberries were gone, wiped out with the Altean people. There would be no more festivals. There would be no choosing. His choice had been taken from him.

While it wasn’t a bad thing, it was certainly…different.

And a little frightening.

“Lance!” Coran’s voice called, echoing down the dark hallway. “Allura wants you. There’s something you should se- By the Lions, what the quiznak is going on here?!”

Lance squeezed his eyes shut and for a tick, just a short tick, he wished he hadn’t woken up from his long slumber.


	3. Raw Emotion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the mice know things, Shiro also knows things, Coran does have a temper, and Lance is _not_ fine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **A/N:** Again, heavy on the emotions. I'll edit this seriously tomorrow morning. I'm crashing now cause it's past midnight which means it's past my bedtime.

Allura retreated to the grand stairway in the foyer and sat down on one of the steps midway up, a cup of nunvill in her hands. A hoverbot floated by with several Altean treats. She couldn’t resist snatching a couple of the sweets on sticks; they were her favorite. She watched as the little Arusians seemed to gravitate to Hunk and Pidge because they were the most relatable of the paladins.

The Altean mice scampered up her skirt and sat on her lap tittered at her, mentally lecturing her for her choice of words.

The princess blushed and pursed her lips in a sulk. “I wasn’t going to say it out loud,” she mumbled. The pink mouse sniffed at her and Allura sighed. “Alright, fine. It’s because they’re the shortest.”

The blue squeaked and hopped on the green mouse’s shoulders, patting its stomach and miming stuffing its face with food.

“Yes, that does sound like Hunk,” Allura said laughing. “He has a heart as big as his stomach.”

The blue mouse waved to get her attention then made a lovely, feminine expression accompanied by a slew of mental images that had the princess sitting ramrod straight.

“Pidge is a _what?!”_ Allura gasped.

She leaned forward, teetering precariously from her step and stared at her green paladin. Pidge was squatting with a group of Arusian children, Rover hovering loyally over his -her?- shoulder. Rover’s green glow flashed in a pattern as if it was speaking, or beeping as it were. Whatever it “said,” it made Pidge laugh.

Allura thought about everything she knew about Pidge so far. The green paladin’s full name was Pidge Gunderson (or was it?), he was a genius (definitely true, something like that can’t be faked), his father and brother had been part of Shiro’s crew and been captured by the Galra (the black paladin had confirmed that himself), and Pidge had a hard time surviving without something called “caffeine.” Whatever that was.

It struck the princess that she didn’t really know her paladins as well as she thought. The may work together as a team towards a common goal, but they barely knew anything about each other on a personal level. All things considered, Pidge could be female and no one would have been the wiser. It was all so distant, professional, and slapdash. The only real relationship in this whole mess was between Lance and Keith and even that was questionable at best.

Speaking of, where was Lance? Allura looked around for her brother and didn’t see him right away. Come to think of it, Keith wasn’t anywhere in the foyer either. Immediately, Allura’s eyes narrowed and she stood, gathering the mice into her hands and setting them on her shoulder.

“Coran,” she called.

Her advisor skipped across the floor at her summons, avoiding two Arusian children who ran into his path as he went. “The party is going well so far,” Coran said, his face lit by a huge smile. “I did notice Pidge slipping some of the food into his bag when he thought no one else was looking. But considering Hunk does that all the time, I guess I shouldn’t worry,” he added, chortling happily.

“Where’s- Wait. Pidge was what?” Allura asked, turning back to the green paladin just in time to see him dump a plate full of snacks into his backpack. The princess furrowed her brow and glanced at the blue mouse on her shoulder. “You’re absolutely sure?” she asked.

The mouse nodded enthusiastically and Allura hummed in disbelief. “I’ll have to get to the bottom of this,” she murmured.

“Hm? The bottom of what?” Coran asked, glancing between the princess and her mice.

“Nothing!” Allura said quickly, looking straight at her adviser like a child caught with their hand in the cookie jar. Coran gave her a look and Allura bit her lip. “It's nothing right now and it's not serious. Just my own curiosity,” she said. She shook her head. “We’ll discuss this later. Have you seen Lance?”

“Ah,” Coran said, his bright smile returning. “Finally ready to show your brother his little surprise?”

“Y-yes,” Allura said, searching the foyer for her brother. “Have you seen Keith?” she asked after a moment.

Coran hesitated. “He was trying out some of the nunvill with Hunk last I saw,” he said slowly. “Why?”

“Because I can’t find either of them,” Allura said seriously.

Coran’s smile slipped from his face and he too gave the room a full once-over. “You’re right,” he said. “They’re both gone.”

“Find them,” Allura ordered, her voice curt. Her adviser turned to her in surprise. “Find them and bring Lance to me,” she insisted.

“And if I find Keith with him?” Coran asked, studying his princess’s expression carefully.

“Then make him wish he never touched my baby brother,” Allura said. “If he wants Lance, I expect him to work for it. Nothing comes for free. Lance is worth more than some common whore.”

Coran nodded. “It shall be done,” he said. “Please inform Shiro that I’ll have to cut our delightful conversation short. Also,” he added after a moment of thought, “would you mind if I borrowed your furry companions?”

“My mice?” Allura asked, placing a finger on one of her friends’ heads. “Why?”

“They may be able to help me narrow down where Keith and Lance are,” Coran said. “If we split up, we can find them more quickly.”

It made sense, Allura thought. She glanced at her friends for their permission and was pleased when they nodded. They hopped into her cupped hands and moved in her adviser’s.

“If you find Keith and he’s with Lance,” Allura said to her mice, “you have my permission to bite him.”

Coran snorted when the mice saluted the princess. “Alright then,” he said to his new search companions. He strolled confidently over to the far wall of the foyer and knelt down so the mice could easily hop to the floor. “Each of you take a hallway,” he said. “Come get me if you find our two missing paladins, alright? As for the biting part,” he winced, “better wait on that until Lance is gone, alright? Wouldn’t want him getting mad now would we?” The mice shook their cute, furry heads and Coran chuckled. “Very well then. Off with you. I’ll give an extra treat to the one who finds them.”

The mice squeaked and raced down the different hallways as fast as their tiny feet could carry them.

* * *

 

Allura laughed into her hand as she watched her adviser give orders to her mice. He did know she could hear their thoughts, right? She knew he’d asked them not to bite Keith until Lance was out of the picture. She decided not to say anything because honestly, she agreed that would be the best approach.

“I don’t like this.”

Startled, Allura turned to her black paladin. She hadn’t even noticed him walk up to her. She must be slipping.

"Don’t like what?” she asked curiously. “The party? Are you not a party person?” She smiled sympathetically. “Don’t feel bad. Not everyone enjoys them. I’m sorry it’s making you uncomfortable though. Feel free to retire if it gets to be too much for you.”

Shiro shook his head and turned to look out the main doors down the main entryway in concern. “I don’t like having our defenses completely down like this,” he clarified. “Everyone coming and going without question…” He sighed through his nose. “It just doesn’t seem safe.”

“The Arusians are peaceful creatures,” Allura said gently. “They mean us no harm. Besides,” she said, watching a pair of Arusians fall over themselves laughing, “they have the right to see the inside of the Castle that’s been on their planet for 10,000 years. Maybe it will help them see that I’m not a goddess after all,” she said wryly.

Shiro snorted despite himself. “I don’t think that will go away anytime soon,” he said, looking at the princess in sympathetic amusement.

Allura rolled her eyes and stuck out her lower lip. “I don’t like being worshiped,” she admitted. “It’s too weird. It makes me feel like I’m supposed to be perfect. I’m not.”

“No one’s perfect,” Shiro said gently. “I don’t think anyone can be.”

He smiled at the princess who returned his smile with the faintest hint of color in her cheeks. That was a surprise. Shiro fought back his own mounting blush to stare back out at the moonless landscape of Arus. The stars and lights from the Castle were bright enough to illuminate the area close to the Castle but beyond that, it was too dark for his human eyes to see clearly. Keith would probably be able to see into the darkness better than any of them.

“Something doesn’t feel right,” he muttered. It was too dark. Maybe it was his instincts from his captivity kicking in or maybe it was his dislike of dark places, but something just didn’t seem right. He had a feeling this was going to be a long night. “I’m going to go check the perimeter,” he said. “Let me know if you need anything, your highness,” he said.

Then with a formal bow, he turned and made his way outside. He was surprised to see Pidge standing by the main doors, tipping what was probably his third platter of snacks into his backpack. He smiled.

“You know too many sweets will give you cavities,” he teased.

Pidge froze and looked down guiltily. “Yeah,” he said.

Shiro’s smiled faded. “Hey Pidge, are you alright?” he asked.

The green paladin hugged his backpack close, a flush coloring his cheeks. “Don’t tell Allura, but…”

Shiro studied his friend closely and understood. “You’re leaving,” he said grimly.

Pidge grimaced. “I have to,” he said, lifting his eyes to stare at the black paladin directly. “My father and brother are still out there. They could be held captive somewhere, or slaves, or who knows what else. I can’t just stay here and do nothing knowing that! I…” Tears brimmed Pidge’s eyes. “I just… I just can’t. I’m sorry.”

Shiro crouched down in front of the green paladin and placed his hand on Pidge’s shoulder. “I understand,” he said sadly. “Believe me, I do. I wish you would stay but I won’t stop you from leaving.” He squeezed Pidge’s shoulder in a comforting manner. “I won’t tell Allura unless she asks.” He stood and pulled his hand back. “Good luck Katie,” he said and stepped out into the cool night air of Arus to begin his perimeter check, missing the startled gasp from the green paladin.

* * *

 

He was, in a word, furious. He prided himself on having a good control of his temper. He couldn’t remember the last time he blew up in anger, although it probably had to do with Lance in the kitchen. But what he felt now was more than just anger. It was indignation, disgust, disapproval, and shame for the young prince.

Lance was currently being held against the wall, imprisoned by Keith’s body, and shaking. The prince’s head was tilted back in a show of submission and the red paladin’s mouth was clamped down on the Mark. His eyes were closed in what could have been pleasure, had the fear and sadness not been so plainly visibly on his face.

It made Coran’s blood boil.

To make matters worse, Keith hadn’t let go of Lance even after Coran had arrived.

“Remember when I said to wait until Lance was gone before biting,” Coran said, noticing the way Keith’s ears twitched at his voice, “ignore that order. Bite him now.”

Coran stood back and watched as Allura’s mice hurried across the floor to the couple. The fat green mouse sunk its teeth into the red paladin’s ankle eliciting a sharp yelp. The other, smaller mice climbed up Keith’s leg underneath his fabric of his pants and proceeded to bite his leg.

Caught off guard by the intrusion of ticklish fluffiness and stinging needles in his legs, Keith leapt away from Lance and flailed about, trying to stop the pain. He smacked his pants, wriggled his legs, and shook his feet in his numerous attempts to escape the pain.

Lance, however, made no move to run. He didn’t do anything after Keith released him except sink limply to the floor and hang his head to stare at the floor. Coran ignored the red paladin’s plight in favor of carefully pulling Lance to his feet and looping a supporting arm around the prince’s waist. Together, Coran guided his prince away from the still flailing halfbreed to the main foyer. He wasn’t surprised to see Allura running towards them trying very hard not to look as horrified as she probably felt.

When the princess placed her hands on either side of her brother’s face, she brushed her thumbs over the blue scales at the corners of Lance’s eyes. Instantly, Lance blinked back to himself and stood up straight.

“Fine,” he said quickly. “Fine, I’m fine. It’s nothing.” His hand moved up to cover his Mark before he caught himself and held his arm stiffly by his side.

Allura looked directly into her brother’s eyes and pressed her thumbs against the blue scales once more and Lance twitched. After a tick, he calmly reached up and removed his sister’s hands. “I’m fine,” he said again.

“You’re a horrible liar,” Allura said. “Coran,” she said without taking her eyes off of her brother, “make sure Keith stays here. If he asks for Lance, tell him we’re busy.”

“Understood,” Coran said, executing a slight bow.

The princess turned her hands in Lance’s grip and tugged him. “Come with me,” she said softly. “There’s something I should have shown you when I first saw it, but I didn’t.” She spoke as they walked. “I think we both need this right now.”

“What is it?” Lance asked, regaining some of his usual personality.

Allura flashed him a smirk and Lance suddenly wasn’t sure about this. “I’m scared,” he said flatly.

“Don’t be,” his sister said playfully. “You’ll love this.”

“Now I’m _really_ scared,” Lance said.

Allura just laughed and pulled him along. It took a moment for him to recognize their destination. “The holodeck?” he said in confusion. “Why are we here? What about the party?”

“It’ll be fine without us for a tock or so,” Allura said. “Coran is a great host. You know that.”

“Um, about Keith-”

“Don’t mention his name right now,” Allura snapped. “I’m still mad at him for that display back there.”

Lance blushed, gulping nervously. “I… He… I may have…led him on.”

“That doesn’t change anything,” Allura said. “I will not accept him as a legitimate suitor for you until he properly courts you.”

Lance laughed breathlessly and squeezed his sister’s hand. “You realize I’ll hold the same level of respectability from your potential life partner.”

The princess blushed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said quickly.

Lance gave her a glance from the corner of his eye then actually looked at her, surprise causing his mouth to drop open. He snickered. “You don’t know,” he said.

“I don’t know what?” Allura demanded. “What do you mean?” Lance just snickered and rolled his shoulders, preening smugly. “Lance!” the princess said. Again, Lance ignored her in favor of laughing. “Fine,” she huffed. “Keep your secrets from me.” She smirked. “But I bet you can’t keep them from Father.”

Lance stilled and glared at her. “That’s not funny,” he said coldly.

Allura’s smile just softened but it was someone else who spoke.

“No, it’s not.”

Lance froze, his blood rushing from his face and leaving his hands and legs cold and tingly. It couldn’t be. He swallowed.

“But it is true, is it not?”

The prince turned around slowly and felt his heart pound painfully in his chest. There, standing on the pedestal in the middle of the holodeck, was King Alfor, just as Lance remembered him.

“This isn’t funny,” Lance said, shaking his head in denial. “Allura, stop. This isn’t funny. Stop this.”

“Lance. Lance!” Allura cried, grabbing her brother’s shoulders and holding him in place. “It’s not a trick. It’s real. His mind was stored in a memory core.”

Lance was staring at her like a lost child, too scared to believe what he was seeing and hearing. He began shaking his head and attempting to retreat when Allura cupped his face, brushing her thumbs over his scales, sending what calm she could to her brother through the contact.

Lance was hyperventilating. “I finally accepted it,” he whispered. “I finally accepted his death. Why wo- Why would you do this to me?”

“Lance,” the king said gently, sadness in his old eyes.

“You abandoned us,” Lance said in a small voice, squeezing his eyes shut and bowing his head. “You told me to put Allura in the cryopod. I only did that because I thought it was temporary. I wouldn’t have done it if I’d known you were planning on leaving us behind.”

The holographic memory of King Alfor gazed at his son sadly.

Lance shook his head, refusing to wipe away the tears from his eyes. “Then you threw me in there and I…” He broke away from his sister’s gentle grasp and faced his father with all the hurt fury of an abandoned child. “You left us. You _left_ us! Why did you do that? You…” He clenched his fist. “You had no _right_ to do that to us. You didn’t even _ask_ us. You didn’t give us a _choice!_ Why? _Why?!”_

The memory of Alfor stood before his two surviving children and could not find the right words to say. “Would you believe me if I said I just…” The once great king of Altea broke off under the weight of his child’s pain. “I already lost most of my children,” he said. “I couldn’t bear the thought of losing you too.”

“Then why didn’t you just come with us?” Lance begged, moving towards his father’s image. “Why didn’t you join us after you hid the Lions and landed the Castle here? You could have. You _could have!”_

“Yes, I could have,” Alfor said. “But I would have been dead when you woke.”

Lance stilled, pressing his lips together as he stood face-to-face with his Father. “What do you mean?” he demanded.

“I didn’t want you to know,” the once great king said wearily.

“I want to know,” Lance said. “I _need_ to know.”

“We both need to know,” Allura said, joining her brother. “We deserve to know.”

Alfor gazed at his children, proud and heartbroken. “The massacre of your siblings,” he began, “my…my children.” His voice broke. “I did not escape unscathed."


	4. Flame Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Coran gives Keith a crash course in Altean dating culture, Allura introduces Lance to their Father, and a friend turns out to be anything but friendly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **A/N:** A bit shorter than I typically prefer my chapters to be but this felt like a good stopping point. I meant to post this on Tuesday night but I literally fell asleep while typing. It's been a long week. It's midterms. Enough said.

When Coran returned to the hallway where he’d left Keith, he almost felt bad for the red paladin. Keith had somehow climbed up one of the support beams lining the walls and was currently clinging to the illumination crystal casing like his life depended on it. Judging by the ferocity with which Allura’s mice were trying to reach him, Keith probably thought his life _did_ depend on it.

“That’s enough,” Coran said. “I’ll deal with him from here.”

The mice squeaked and reluctantly scurried away, but not without tossing one last glare at the halfbreed. When they were finally alone, Coran sighed and called up to Keith.

“You can come down now.”

“Frak you,” the halfbreed snapped angrily. “You sicced those _things_ on me for no reason. I was in the middle of something important, you damn adviser.”

“Using your new human curse words doesn’t make you sound more intelligent or more compelling,” Coran said, placing his hands on his hips. “Now get down here and talk to me like a man, not some scared little child.”

Keith bristled. “I’m not a child!” he roared.

“Then get down here and prove it to me,” Coran said.

The red paladin bared his teeth, his gold and violet eyes gleaming eerily in the dim hallway. He hopped down to the floor and faced the Altean adviser directly. “I am not a child,” Keith growled, enunciating each word clearly.

“Clearly,” Coran said. “Children don’t have mates.”

Keith flushed and sniffed.

“I understand by your culture, you and Lance are mated for life. That’s as personal and as permanent as it gets for you,” Coran said, staring the red paladin down. “But that’s not how it works with Alteans.”

“Your culture is dead,” Keith grumbled, then stiffened when he realized what he’d just said.

Coran’s entire demeanor softened. “To you, maybe,” he said. “For you, our planet, our people, and our culture has been extinct for over 10,000 periods. But for myself, Allura, and Lance, it’s only been a few cycles since we went to sleep. The Altean language, culture, and traditions live on with us. They may even die with us. But as long as we are alive, we will embrace who we are as a people.”

Keith’s stance eased from its defensive edge and adopted a guilty expression. “I’m sorry,” he said. “That was insensitive.”

“Yes it was,” Coran said. “But I understand why you said that,” he added after a moment. “Nevertheless, I think you should understand that while for you, Marking Lance makes him your mate, in order for Lance to truly see you as _his_ life partner, you have to court _him_.” Coran smiled. “If you want to even dream of getting him into your bed, you’ll need to court the prince to his sister’s satisfaction. If she doesn’t approve, you’ll live the rest of your life sexless.”

Keith paled.

“That said,” Coran said, “would you be interested in learning the art of Altean courting?”

Keith shifted from foot to foot awkwardly. No doubt his legs were still in pain from Allura’s mice. “Is it hard?” he asked hesitantly.

Coran grinned. “That depends on you really. I can show you how it’s done, explain the process, what’s expected, and what _not_ to do as well as what you _can_ do and _should_ do.”

“That sounds…like a lot.”

“If you really see him as your mate, then he should be worth it,” Coran said in an off-hand tone. His eyes, however, were shrewd and sharp. “If I recall from my cultural studies of the Galra, they were known for their unbreakable bond with their Marked mates. Nothing came before a Galra and their mate. That still stands true, correct?”

Keith nodded hesitantly. “It does.”

“Then making Lance see you in the same way should be your first priority,” Coran said simply. He turned and, gesturing for Keith to follow him, made his way back to the main foyer where the Arusians still gathered. “The Galra take one mate only and remain loyal to that mate even after death. Alteans are different. We can love more than one person with the same honesty and tenacity as a Galra. Flirting like the kind Lance often does was considered commonplace in our society. Allura is more restrained and in control of herself due to her standing as a diplomat. Her actions now, had we still been in Altean society, would seem distant, even cold to most people.”

“But Lance is my mate,” the red paladin argued. “If you Alteans are really as loyal to your mates as you claim, then why does the prince still flirt with the others?”

“Because _you_ may have Marked him as your mate, but he hasn’t chosen you as his life partner,” Coran explained patiently. He swiped a cup of purple nunvill from one of the passing hoverbots and sipped it calmly.

“But he’s _mine,”_ Keith snapped.

“In your eyes and the eyes of your culture, yes he is,” Coran agreed.

“But not in yours,” Keith said, clenching his fists.

“No,” Coran said, sipping his drink. “Normally, Alteans respect the cultures and traditions of other races, but never at the price of going against our own culture and traditions.” The adviser aimed his cool gaze at the red paladin next to him. “By skipping the entire courting phase and expecting him to bed you now, you’re essentially treating the prince like a prostitute.”

Keith stilled, his eyes wide in horror. “But… I never meant-”

“I know you didn’t,” Coran said gently. “So does Allura and, more importantly, so does Lance.” Keith’s tense stance eased somewhat. “However,” the adviser continued, “that doesn’t change the fact that that’s what you’ve done. If you want Lance to see himself as your life partner and not your whore, then I suggest you court him in proper Altean fashion.”

Keith flushed. “How do I do that?” he asked.

Coran’s smile grew sly. “I’m so glad you asked,” he said. “Listen well, my young student, and if you follow my instructions, you’ll have our young prince begging to make you his life partner.”

It was a tantalizing offer. “What’s the catch?” Keith said suspiciously.

“Swear you won’t kiss or make a move on the prince unless he makes the first move,” Coran said seriously.

Keith blinked. “We’ve never kissed,” he said. How had he not realized that before.

Coran choked. “You’ve never kissed?” he cried in dismay. “Not even once? What is wrong with you?”

Keith threw his hands in the air. He just couldn’t win.

* * *

 

“What do you mean?” the princess whispered. “You never took part in the festivities. You couldn’t have-”

“He didn’t,” Lance said, his eyes narrowing. “You didn’t,” he said louder. “I saw you. You were with Coran. Mother offered to go in your place because Coran needed you to approve the latest upgrades for the Lions.”

The former king reached out to brush his translucent fingers over his two living children’s faces, his eyes sad. “I’m sorry,” he said.

“But you were fine!” Allura cried. “You weren’t…bleeding and…” She covered her mouth, fighting back the urge to throw up at the very thought of her siblings’ deaths.

Alfor shook his head. “It wasn’t something that can be cured,” he said slowly. “Old age is something we must all face sooner or later.”

“You…” Lance couldn’t believe it. “You died of old age?” He stepped away from his father’s memory made real and turned away. “So you could have joined us, but _chose_ not to.”

“The Lions had to be hidden,” Alfor said. “I couldn’t risk Zarkon getting his hands on them. The Black Lion may have rejected him, but there was no guarantee he couldn’t find a way to force the connection to return.”

“Impossible,” Allura said. Her eyes sparked with hate and disgust. “The Black Lion rejected him. Once the bond is broken, it can’t be healed.”

“I hope you’re right,” the former king said.

“What do you mean by ‘you hope?’” Lance said suspiciously.

“The Druids have sided with Zarkon, I understand,” Alfor said.

“Yes,” Lance confirmed. “According to Keith, the red paladin, the Druids are loyal to no one but Zarkon himself.”

Alfor nodded. “Then if Zarkon is still seeking to retrieve the Lions and the Castle, even after all these years, then it would be safe to assume the emperor has found some way to reform the bond by force. If he hasn’t found a way yet, then he will.”

“So you spent your entire life alone,” Allura said, “trying to find a place where we could sleep safely.”

“You’re my children,” Alfor said, a tender smile on his face. “I would do anything for you.”

“Except stay with us,” Lance muttered.

“Lance,” Allura snapped. “Please, not now.”

“Then when?” Lance cried. “When were you planning on joining us? Or was that never the plan in the first place?”

The image of the former king of Altea gazed at his son with heartbroken smile. “I understand your pain,” he said. “I do. I felt it my entire life as I hid from the Galra, secreting away the Lions. I would often venture to the cryopods and watch you sleep. It took all of my self-control not to wake you up, to hear your voices again, to hold you again. You were always so close, yet just out of reach.”

He sighed and bowed his head. “It took ages before it was safe enough for me to land the Castle on Arus,” he said. “By then it was too late for me. I was old and ill. I doubt I would have survived the initialization let alone the freezing process.”

Lance closed his eyes and turned away. When he opened his eyes again, his breath caught and his eyes grew round. “It can’t be,” he whispered.

A field of mature juniberry flowers in full bloom spread out from his feet as far as he could see. The red petals and green grass swayed in a strong breeze that rolled over the field from the ravine between the flowering plateau he stood on and the next mountain over. Here the air was thin and light. This was much more familiar than the lower altitude and denser atmosphere of Arus. It was easier to breathe here too.

Home. This was home.

“Altea,” Lance whispered, his heart aching with longing.

He barely noticed when he fell to his knees, _felt_ the grass and flower petals brush his hands, _felt_ the wind caress his face, _felt_ his heart ache for what had been lost. Allura sat next to him, plucked a single juniberry flower from the ground, and held it out to her brother. The bright red of the flower petals filled Lance’s vision and he took the offering without thinking.

He watched as Allura picked another flower for herself. “It is sad that we can only see the juniberry flower in this place,” she said, a wistful smile full of pain on her face. “But perhaps,” she lifted her head and met her brother’s gaze with her own, “if we come here together, it will make it more real.”

Lance swallowed, fighting back his tears. “It’s only an illusion,” he said, attempting to ground himself. “It’s only a dream.”

Allura leaned forward and tucked her flower behind Lance’s ear. He blushed but did the same, slipping the stem of his flower behind Allura’s ear. His sister smiled and cupped his face so his cheeks rested in the palms of her hands and her thumbs rested over his blue scales. He took a deep, unsteady breath and did the same for her. She smiled and they rested their foreheads against one another and just sat there, enjoying each other’s company in the tranquility of this lost dream.

Here, in this place, lost in this dream, Lance could feel his father touch on his back. Here, he could be home with his family, what was left of it. Here, he was home. Until it was time to wake up from the dream.

A beeping sound alerted the royal family to the fact a hangar door had opened. Lance blinked and leaned away from his sister’s cuddle to look at the ceiling that was temporarily hidden by a crystal clear blue sky.

“Why would one of the hangar doors be opening?” he muttered.

Allura followed her brother’s gaze and furrowed her brow in confusion. “I don’t know,” she said. She looked at their father’s image, swallowing morosely. “We should go,” she said.

Lance dropped his gaze back to his sister’s. He glanced at his father’s image, quickly looking away again. “Yeah. Wouldn’t want to miss out on a party, after all,” he said, forcing a smile on his face.

Allura grimaced but nuzzled Lance’s hand when he brushed the pink scale on the corner of her eyes. “Then let’s go.” She stood, brushing the wrinkles out of her skirt while her brother got to his feet as well. “We’ll come back soon, Father,” she said.

King Alfor’s memory smiled and nodded. “I’ll be here,” he said.

Lance said nothing. He took his sister’s hand and walked towards the exit of the main holodeck with his sister as the Altean flower field vanished in a mist of holographic sparks around them. He tossed one last look at the room from over his shoulder before turning away from the now dark, lifeless room and made his way out of it.

“Let’s see why a hangar door would be opened,” Allura said, already pulling Lance behind her towards the main control room. “Then we can go back to the party.”

“Or we could go to the power chamber,” the prince suggested. “It’s closer.”

The princess considered the option, then shrugged. “Alright then.” She flashed her brother a dark smirk. “Eager to get back to your mate?” she teased.

Lance flushed a deep crimson. “I… Maybe. Maybe, I just want to play with the Arusians or eat another one of Hunk’s treats.”

Allura gave him a look and didn’t even bother to argue that pathetic excuse. “You should know,” she said, nudging her brother’s shoulder playfully, “I plan on making sure you get courted properly.”

“What?” Lance gasped in mortification.

“Oh please,” Allura groaned. “Don’t even imagine I don’t know about your little dalliance with your mate earlier this evening.” She watched her brother’s complexion darken further and her smile became stern. “If you think I’m going to let Keith bed you like some cheap whore-”

“Allura?!”

“-without courting you like a proper suitor, then you’re gravely mistaken,” Allura continued. She lifted her nose in the air and sniffed.

Lance’s mouth hung open in mortification. “Fine,” he huffed. “Then you’d better expect to get the same treatment from me when your suitor finally makes his move,” he said.

He was pleased to see his sister’s face darken but didn’t press the issue when they arrived at the power chamber. The huge crystal hanging from its place in the ceiling filled the room with a soft, blue glow that pulsed gently like a heartbeat. Allura let go of her brother’s hand to go check one of the panels close to the wall.

Lance glanced over her shoulder at the display curiously. “Which hangar door is it?” he asked. “One of the Lions’?”

Allura shook her head. “No. It’s one of the transport pod hangars.” She stood back and studied the readouts, bewildered by the information. “Why would someone open the transport pod hangar door?”

“It could be nothing,” Lance said, half-heartedly. “Or it could be one of the others wanted some quiet away from the party. The view from up there is amazing at night,” he said with a wistful smile.

“Or a pair of Arusians seeking a secret place to have a sultry love affair like a certain other couple I know?” Allura teased, smirking at her brother.

Lance sulked. “You really won’t let me live that down, will you?” he grumbled.

The princess just laughed and shut down the panel and skipped out of the room. “Come on,” she called from the hallway. “Wouldn’t want to keep your mate waiting.” She poked her head around the corner and winked and Lance who was lingering by the crystal in a full on sulk.

“Whatever,” Lance huffed, soothing his ruffled feathers. He’d have to think of a particularly clever trick to get Allura back for her teasing. A familiar beeping interrupted his plans for justified vengeance.

“Hey Rover,” he said absently as Pidge's hoverbot flew by.

He blinked.

“Wait,” pausing and turning back to stare at the reclaimed Galra hoverbot. “Rover?” He watched the green glowing bot fly up towards the power crystal. Rover never left Pidge’s side. Ever. So then, “Where’s Pidge?”

“Lance?” Allura called, coming back into the room just as the beeping sound increased in speed and pitch. “Lance, are you coming?”

Lance didn’t answer her. He could only watch in sudden horror when the hoverbot flashed Galra red. “Allura, get down!” he screamed, turning and pulling his sister close, covering her body with his own.

An instant later, he was blinded by a bright flash of light and deafened by a thunderous boom than shook him to the core. The last thing he remembered was pain, then falling, then nothing.


	5. Cold Realization

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Shiro admits to being smitten, stumbles on a horrible sight, and leaves to protect the Arusians from the invading Galra, all according to plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **A/N:** Shiro takes the lead in this chapter. I'm going to bed early now because I'm waking up seriously early tomorrow morning. The Canada Snowbird (equivalent to the U.S. Thunderbirds) are in town. They were stopping in Athens for a routine fuel stop on their way to an air show in Brunswick, GA. Unfortunately, the air show was cancelled due to Hurricane Matthew so the Snowbirds hung out in Athens for a week.
> 
> They're taking off tomorrow morning at 8:30 to fly back to Saskatchewan, Canada, and I am going to watch. Because I am an aviation nerd. ^_^
> 
> Btw, the reason why I compared the Snowbirds to the Thunderbirds instead of the Blue Angels is because no one can match the Blue Angels. They're just too awesome to be beaten by anyone. Yes, I'm biased. No, I don't care. ^_~

Shiro stood on one of the many ancient bridges leading to the Castle from the mainland, observing the Arusians as they darted over the stone. He didn’t see anything amiss, but something just felt off. He couldn’t explain it. He didn’t need to.

Over the years, he’d learned to trust his instincts. One of his professors once said if he felt something was wrong but couldn’t explain it, then it probably meant he’d subconsciously witnessed something unusual that his conscious mind hadn’t noticed. He couldn’t remember the professor’s name, but he remembered those words.

Still, no matter how hard he tried to see something out of place or hear something that that didn’t belong, he came up empty. He simply couldn’t find the threat even though he knew it was there. He huffed in frustration and leaned back against the low stone wall lining the bridge, preventing travelers from falling over the side.

The Castle was beautiful from this perspective. The turquoise glow was soothing and illuminated the ocean far below with a mimicry of moonlight. The stars above sparkled hopefully. Faint music filtered to Shiro’s ears from the party in wafts as the land breeze blew passed, ruffling his hair as it went. It was an altogether calm night.

 _Too calm_ , his mind insisted.

Shiro heaved a sigh and leaned back on the stone ledge contemplating his mixed up senses when a beam of light startled him. He looked up the Castle’s side and saw a dim, blue-white light shining out from a small hangar door. It was too small and too high up to be one of the Lions’ hangars, which meant it was probably a pod hangar.

Pidge was probably preparing to leave. Shiro felt his heart ache. Ever since he’d learned his fellow crew members on the Kerberos mission were Pidge’s family, he’d know Pidge was Katie Holt. But since she’d showed no sign of wanting to reveal her identity and gender to the rest of the group, Shiro had kept his knowledge a secret. It wasn’t his place to out her.

But he sincerely worried about her. She was a member of Shiro’s team and had wormed her way into this small, dysfunctional family that was Team Voltron. It was strange how only a few days, several life threatening situations, and giant Lions uniting to form a Gundam-like weapon could pull people together like this. Everyone was from different places and had different cultures and traditions, but they all had one thing in common: the Galra Empire had taken something from them.

Even Keith, or Keithek, had managed to endear himself to Shiro. The halfbreed worked hard, spending much of his free time in the training arena. He kept to himself, but after Coran’s rather disastrous attempt at team building when everyone’s wrists had been bound to each other forcing someone else to feed them, Keith had really begun to speak his mind. He’d begun to talk to Shiro instead of avoiding him like the plague. He’d begun to offer suggestions to Pidge regarding her methods of hacking the Galra technology. He and Hunk had begun to bond over their cultural culinary specialties.

Strangely, Shiro rarely saw him near Lance unless they were training. The black paladin secretly suspected the princess was behind that. Shiro got the sense Allura wasn’t necessarily pleased with Keith mating her brother. From what he’d been able to wrangle out of the surprisingly tight-lipped princess and adviser, Keith had done the Earth equivalent of forcing the young prince into a marriage without any of the flirting, dating, or relationship that comes before that.

Lance never complained about the setup, although granted he’d been a little too exhausted over the past few days to really have the chance to complain. But Shiro had noticed the side glances the prince shot Keith when he thought no one was looking. Shiro suspected Lance was interested in deepening his relationship with Keith, but he simply didn’t know how or if he should.

Then there was Allura. She was smart, clever, beautiful, playful, and an altogether magnificent woman. Shiro was smitten and he wasn’t sure how he felt about it. He’d had his fair share of dates and girlfriends, some serious, some not. But he’d never considered having a crush on a 10,000-year-old woman from another planet _while_ on another planet and fighting aliens from yet _another_ planet.

Shiro sighed. He was surrounded by enough drama and raw emotion to give a cheesy soap opera a run for its money. At least it was more believable right now than in an episode of those soap operas. Not that Shiro ever watched soap operas. No, never. Absolutely not. And no, Shiro was not blushing. He was just a little…

It was a blustery breeze, okay?

He tipped his head back to watch the stars when a low rumble shook the ground. The bridge shuddered violently just as the Castle’s lights flickered and went out. Terrified shouting filled the air as the Arusians fled from the Castle. Shiro, however, ran towards the Castle. Whatever had happened had slipped past his watch. If anyone had gotten hurt…

Allura.

“What was that?” he demanded, skidding to a stop by Coran and Keith.

“That sounded like an explosion,” Hunk said, joining their little group. “It wasn’t an explosion right? Please tell me it wasn’t an explosion.”

“I wish I could,” Shiro said grimly.

“It sounded like it came from within the Castle,” Coran muttered, eyeing the dark ceiling and the dark lights. “If we’ve lost power then… Something’s happened to the crystal!”

Without another word, the Altean spun and ran out of the foyer and down the side hallway.

“Wait!” Shiro cried.

“Coran!” Hunk called, racing after the adviser with Shiro.

“Pidge, come in,” Shiro said into the communicator.

 _“I’m here,”_ Pidge replied. _“What the hell was that? It shook the whole building.”_

“There’s been an explosion on one of the lower floors of the Castle,” Shiro said. “We’ve lost power. We’re on our way to the source with Coran. Keith, could you-” He stopped cold. “Keith?” The red paladin wasn’t with them. “Keith!”

“I’ll get him,” Hunk said. “You follow Coran. We’ll join you when Pidge gets down here.”

Shiro didn’t mention that Pidge may not show up. He simply nodded and turned on his heel to follow after the still retreating Altean. For an old man, Coran could certainly run. However, Shiro was in his prime and easily caught up to the adviser, falling into step next to him. He had an idea of where they were going. When they rounded a corner and he saw smoke billowing out of the crystal chamber, he picked up his speed.

When he first entered the room, he could barely see a thing. It was almost completely dark. Thankfully, Shiro was wearing his paladin armor. He’d taken to wearing it often because it gave him something familiar to latch on to should he have another PTSD episode. It was also useful and cut down on preparation times during the princess’s many surprise training tests.

The crystalline inserts in his armor glowed the now familiar turquoise, illuminating the slowly dissipating smoke. He coughed when he accidentally inhaled the smoke, activating his helmet to cover his entire face and control his air flow. He scanned the area for anything moving. A few seconds later, the smoke near the ceiling began to clear and Shiro looked up to examine the ceiling for any signs of damage.

There was no tell-tale glow of a fire. In fact, there was no glow at all except for what little light was filtering through the fading smoke from the hallway and from his armor. The giant crystal that hung from the ceiling was dark. Shiro narrowed his eyes and saw that the beautiful crystal was not only dark, it was completely shattered.

“Quiznak,” Coran cursed, coughing into his arm. “Without the crystal, we have no power. We’ll have to find a Balmera to get another crystal otherwise we’ll be stuck here.”

“We can take one of the Lions,” Shiro said, moving through the smoke.

He felt his feet crunch the debris under his boots as he approached the center of the room. However, he didn’t make it far inside before he felt something that didn’t give or crunch. In fact, it felt like…a body.

Images of the Galra battling arena flashed across Shiro’s memory. He remembered stepping on his opponent’s hand, preventing them from reaching their weapon to defend themselves. The thing under his boot now felt like that, but smaller.

He looked down, hoping he wouldn’t see what he feared. The smoke began to  thin as it flowed out of the crystal chamber and into the hallway. If the Castle still had power, then the air circulation system would have activated sucking the smoke out of the room a little faster and funneling it into the outside environment. Without power, the air cleared up slower but it still cleared. As the room became more visible, so did the view of the chamber floor.

“Allura!” Coran cried, recognizing the cloud of white hair spread across the tiles of the floor.

It had been her hand Shiro was stepping on. Horrified, Shiro moved his foot and fell to his knees by the princess. But something was wrong. Allura's body was bulkier than it should be. He lifted his eyes and followed her form’s outline as it came into view.

“Lance,” Shiro gasped.

Sure enough, the extra bulk on Allura’s body belonged to Lance. The prince was lying on top of the princess’s body, covering hers with his own. They were both unconscious. Based on the gashes and burn marks on the prince’s back, it was probably for the best that he was unconscious.

“Oh god,” Shiro breathed. “We need to get them to healing pods, now.”

“We can’t,” Coran said, resting his thumbs on the colored scales by siblings’ eyes. “Without the crystal, the Castle has no power whatsoever.”

“What goin- _Holy shit!”_

Shiro looked up at the unexpected voice. “Pidge?”

“What happened?” Hunk gasped, appearing next to Pidge.

“Hunk. Where’s…” Shiro trailed off when he saw Keith standing behind the yellow paladin.

The red paladin was staring directly at Lance’s unmoving body with wide eyes and an unusually pale face. He looked like a ghost. Hunk was gripping Keith’s wrist and was breathing a bit harder than normal. Had Hunk dragged Keith all the way here?

“Keith?” Shiro asked. “Are you alright?”

Keith didn’t respond right away. It took him a moment to recover from his shock and lift his gaze to the black paladin’s. Keith’s pupils were blown wide, practically devouring the violet irises and the furred ears were folded back against the halfbreed’s head.

“Is he alright?” Keith asked, his voice breathy and unsure. “Is he alive?”

Shiro nodded, but leaned over to take Lance’s pulse anyway to reassure both himself and Keith. “He’s alive,” he said. “Help me.”

Keith didn’t waste any time. He hurried to Shiro’s side and helped him ease Lance’s body off of Allura’s. Hunk knelt by Coran and checked the princess’s vitals.

“How is she?” Shiro asked urgently.

Coran heaved a sigh of relief and nodded. “Alive,” he said. He stared at Lance’s body still supported by both Shiro and Keith. “Lance must have protected her, taking the brunt of the blast. We need to get him medical attention immediately.”

“I’ve got a few things in my Lion,” Pidge said. “I can go get it right now.”

“Do that,” Shiro said. “Coran, help me get these two to their rooms.”

But the adviser shook his head. “The doors won’t open,” he said. “They’re powered by the crystal. Without it,” Coran looked up at the destroyed structure on the ceiling, “the doors will remain locked. It’s a safety feature added when the royal family was attacked at the start of the Great War.”

Shiro clicked his tongue in annoyance.

“What about the lounge?” Hunk asked. “It doesn’t have any doors. It’s just a common room.”

“Good idea,” Shiro said. “Pidge, meet us at the lounge with the medical equipment.”

“On it,” the green paladin chirped and booked it down the hall to the Green Lion’s hangar.

“The doors to the Lions’ hangars should be closed,” Coran wondered aloud. “How did-”

“The air vents,” Keith said, speak up finally. He pulled Lance towards him until the prince was resting fully in his arms. “Pidge went through the air vents.”

“Lance’ll be fine, Keith,” Shiro said, placing a gentle hand on the still stunned halfbreed’s shoulder. He smiled when the dark eyes focused on him. “We’ll make sure of it. Come on.”

Keith gulped but nodded. He took a moment to adjust his grip on his unconscious mate before standing. Lance’s head lolled forward so it rested against the crease of Keith’s arm and chest.

“I’ve got Allura,” Shiro said, taking the princess from Coran’s arms and standing.

“What about the Arusians?” Hunk asked worriedly. “We just kind of left them.”

“I think we’re about to find out,” Coran said, pointing at a large Arusian running down the hall towards them.

“Great warriors!” the Arusian cried. “Our village is under attack. Will you help us?”

“Damn,” Shiro muttered. He glanced down at the princess in his arms, trying to decide what to do. The next moment, he was staring into the loveliest pair of blue-violet eyes he’d ever seen. “Allura!”

“You’re awake?” Hunk gasped.

“Princess!” Coran cried, tears brimming his eyes dramatically.

“Are you alright?” Shiro asked.

Allura blinked a couple times and shook her head before struggling to free herself from Shiro’s arms. The black paladin gently helped her stand, holding her arm to be sure she had her balance.

“I’m fine,” she said, sounding a bit winded. “Lance. Lance!” She whirled around, looking for her brother. When she saw Lance’s body limp in Keith’s arms, she gasped and ran to him. “Is he alright?” she demanded. “He’s not… He’s not-”

“He’s alive,” Keith said, cautiously pulling Lance closer to himself protectively.

“What about our village?”

“What?” Allura asked, turning to the Arusian. “What’s going on?” She placed a hand on her temple, rubbing it gingerly. “What did I miss?”

“There was an explosion in the crystal chamber,” Coran said. “Lance protected you.”

Allura’s eyes saddened. “I know,” she said softly. “Idiot.” She drew herself up so she appeared every inch the princess she was. “I mean now though. What’s happening now? What about your village?” she asked the Arusian.

“Metal soldiers are attacking it,” the Arusian said. “Please, will you not help us?”

“Galra,” Shiro growled.

The princess grimaced. “We will help you,” she said firmly. “The crystal,” she said, turning to Coran. “Was it-”

“Destroyed, I’m afraid,” he said grimly. “We’ll need to find a Balmera to replace it.”

Allura bit her lip. “Where’s Pidge?” she asked suddenly.

“He’s getting the first aid equipment from his Lion,” Hunk said.

“Good.”

“What do you want us to do?” Shiro asked her, respecting her authority.

Several moments later, the princess hardened her eyes. “Alright. Coran, use one of the pods to scan for a Balmera. If you find one, your first priority is to retrieve a crystal. Shiro, Keith, you two come with me to the Arusian village.”

“Right away,” Coran said. “Hunk, you’re with me. I’ll need someone big to help carry the crystal once we find it.”

“Gotcha,” Hunk said.

“The pods shouldn’t be too protected,” Coran said thoughtfully.

“Pidge may be able to help you with that,” Shiro said.

“Right. Come on Hunk,” the Altean advisor said briskly before hurrying down the hall followed closely by the yellow paladin.

“How are we going to get to the pods?” Hunk called. “I can’t fit in those vents like Pidge, you know.”

“Princess, you just woke up,” Shiro said. “You should stay here with Lance. Let me and Keith take care of the Galra sentries.”

“I’m fine,” Allura said, mildly irritated. “I’m not a piece of glass.”

“No, but you were unconscious after experiencing an explosion in close proximity,” Shiro countered. “You probably have a concussion.”

“Then if I have a concussion, I should remain awake and in the company of others to be sure I'm in good health, correct?” Allura countered.

Shiro winced and slumped, unable to form a decent argument. “Fine. Bu-”

“I’m not leaving him,” Keith said.

Shiro and Allura turned to Keith who stood holding Lance close to his chest. “I’m not leaving him,” Keith said again.

“Pidge can keep an eye on him while we check the Arusian village,” Shiro said. “We’ll need your help there more than here.”

“I’m not leaving him,” Keith insisted.

“Keith,” Allura said sternly, gathering her hair up in a messy bun. “I understand what you’re feeling right now. Believe me, I do. But Pidge is coming back with medical supplies. Lance will be fine for now.” Her eyes gleamed and she smiled cruelly. “In the meantime, I need your help making sure the Galra are taken care of so they can’t hurt Lance again. Will you help me do that?”

Keith’s eyes widened. He hesitated, gazing down at Lance’s sleeping face. He tightened his grip on his mate’s body. “Alright,” he said eventually. “I’ll go with you. But only after I make sure he’s taken care of.”

“Naturally,” Allura agreed. “This way. Chief,” she said to the Arusian. “We will come to your aid as quickly as we can.”

“Thank you, great Goddess,” the little alien said, rushing back to where his people presumable waited.

“I’m not a goddess,” Allura muttered.

* * *

 

“Pidge? I thought you said you were getting the stuff from your Lion,” Hunk said when he saw Pidge scramble out of an air vent from the pod bay.

The green paladin flushed. “I forgot I’d moved it,” he said awkwardly. “Why are you here?”

“We’re going to take one of the pods to get a new crystal to power the Castle,” Coran said, pushing himself into the air vent Pidge just vacated. “Without it, we can’t heal Lance or power the defenses.”

“Damn,” Pidge muttered, watching as Hunk wriggled through the air vent.

How the yellow paladin was able to fit in there was beyond Pidge, but it was amusing to watch Hunk wriggle around in there, like a fish or a demented snake. Finally, Pidge rolled his eyes and launched himself at Hunk’s butt. The extra force caused Hunk to pop out of the other side of the vent in the pod bay.

“Take the pod by the hangar door,” Pidge called through the vent. “It’s already prepped for launch and has some rations in there.”

“Why’s a pod prepped for launch?” Coran asked in confusion.

“I made some upgrades to it too,” Pidge said, avoiding Coran's question. “I was able to reverse engineer the invisibility function from the invisible maze so you’ll have a few minutes of cloaking. There are a couple other things, but don’t worry. Just get the crystal and get back here ASAP.”

“Right,” Coran said.

“Thanks Pidge,” Hunk yelled through the vent. “You’re awesome.”

Pidge pursed his lips and ran back to the lounge where Lance would be. If only Hunk knew how un-awesome he’d been before this mess began.

* * *

 

Keithek stared at his mate’s face. Lance lay on the bench in the lounge they had occupied just this morning looking horrible. His face was covered in soot, and dried blood caked the back of his shirt. Just the thought of leaving Lance behind in such a vulnerable state was a physical pain in his chest. But the princess was right. It would be best to make sure the threat was eliminated while Pidge took care of Lance. The healing pods were out of the question at the moment.

There really was no other choice.

He'd known the moment something had happened to Lance. He'd heard stories about Galra sensing when their mates were in extreme pain or died. He'd known about the phenomenon, but he'd never known it would be so intense. It was one thing to know something; it was another thing entirely to experience it. It had felt like someone had punched him in the gut without warning.

It had terrified him and left him stunned. He'd barely noticed when Hunk came back for him and pulled him to the crystal chamber. Only the sight of Lance lying face down on top of Allura, his arms wrapped around her body protectively, had snapped Keith out of his stupor. All he could think about was Lance.

Make sure Lance was alive. Make sure Lance was alright. Make sure Lance was taken care of. Make sure Lance was safe.

“Keith,” Allura called from the open doorway. She was dressed in her armored flight suit and looked very much ready to fight just like the rest of them. The soot covering her face was like war paint. “Let’s go,” she commanded.

Keith turned back to Lance, brushing the prince’s short brown hair out of his face and placed a hesitant kiss on the Altean’s forehead. He’d never kissed anyone before and this wasn’t what he imagined his first kiss would be like. Was it even a first kiss since it wasn’t on the lips? He considered kissing Lance’s lips for a tick before remembering Coran’s lecture on Altean courting traditions. Best not.

He stood and raced to Princess Allura’s side, pulling on his helmet and drawing his bayard. The faster he dealt with the renegade Galra who attacked the Castle and now the Arusians, the faster he could get back to Lance without worry. The faster Lance would be kept safe.

He had no way of knowing he would regret leaving Lance now for the rest of his life.

* * *

 

“What did I tell you?” Haxus said, surveying the empty entryway proudly.

“I never doubted you, Haxus,” Sendak said. “There’s a reason I appointed you my second in command.”

“And I live to honor that position,” Haxus answered. “You,” he said to one of the automated sentries, “take the crystal and come with me. We should have the particle barrier up and the Castle ready for launch shortly, Commander Sendak.”

“Excellent,” the Galra commander purred. He strode confidently through the entryway and up the main stairway in the foyer towards the bridge. “Have two of the sentries search the premises in case some of the inhabitants lingered.”

“Should they capture them or-”

“Kill them,” Sendak said. “Unless you find the halfbreed or the prince. If you find either of them, bring them to me.”

“As you command.”


	6. Frost on the Wing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Hunk is excited because SCIENCE and promptly gets sick, Pidge is glad to be short for once, and Keith does not handle things well. Neither does Lance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **A/N:** I. Am. Exhausted. I have literally be awake and running since 6am this morning. That's a total of 16 hours as of now (10pm). As of tonight, I'll have been without my sleep meds for 2 nights in a row. That means I'll be waking up another every two hours for no obvious reason. Hopefully, I'll be so exhausted that I'll fall asleep easier when I get back to my apartment. I need to sleep and STAY ASLEEP!!!
> 
> That said, I got to see the Canada Snowbirds take off from the local airport this morning between 8:15-9:30 this morning. It was totally worth it. I'd woken up at 6 even though my alarm was set for 7. So I just went ahead and got up because what the hell. I wasn't going to fall asleep again. Watching the jets take off was a nice way to start my day though. I spammed FB with photos and videos of them.
> 
> The Snwobirds trolled the airport and Athens. I'm a grad student at the University of Georgia (UGA) in Athens and our mascot is the bulldog. We have bulldog statues literally everywhere. There's even a big one at the airport and a smaller one by the door leading from the tarmac into the airport lobby. It's small and wearing a read shirt (our colors are red and black). The Snowbirds put a sticker with their emblem on the bulldog's shirt and it's hilarious.
> 
> I just spent 20 mins trying to embed my photo of the bulldog wearing the sticker to this, and failed. Look at me. I'm so tired, I'm rambling, failing at posting pictures, and making airplane puns in my chapter titles. 
> 
> I need to sleep.

“It’s a good thing Pidge left the hangar door open,” Coran said, closing the pod roof and prepping the vehicle for launch. “Although I do wonder what Pidge was planning to do with all this supplies.”

“Yeah,” Hunk muttered, eyeing the bag of snacks and thermoses of water. “I wonder.”

“That’s not important right now,” the Altean said, taking control of the pod. “We need to start scanning for a Balmera.”

“I thought the scanners on the pods weren’t as powerful as the Castle’s,” Hunk said.

“They aren’t,” Coran said, starting the engine and taking off. “That’s why we need to get out of the planet’s atmosphere to start scanning. Our range is limited but hopefully, we can get a clear enough image of the nearby space to figure out where to start looking.”

“Right.”

Hunk buckled his seat belt and gripped the sides of his chair in preparation for a rough ride.  He was surprised when the pod rose from the Castle’s hangar floor and flew smoothly through the door. They only experienced turbulence when they started ascending through the planet’s atmosphere. It was rough, but nowhere near as bad as flying with Pidge.

Hunk hardly felt sick at all. Okay, so he felt a little nauseous during the ascent through the atmosphere, but he was fine afterwards. Whatever the aliens used for their artificial gravity also helped ease the G-forces that would normally be pulling and pushing at his body. The forces were still there, but they were nowhere near as powerful.

In fact, now that he thought about it, he could move in the Yellow Lion’s cockpit easier than he could in the Castle or on Earth. Actually, he could move in the pod easily too. He felt…lighter. Was it possible that the gravity the Alteans were used to wasn’t as strong as Earth’s?

Oh great. Now he wanted a scale to weigh himself. He knew he was on the heavy side, but maybe he was lighter now. That would be an interesting experience; not necessarily a bad one either. Maybe he could do a few experiments to see exactly how much more powerful the Earth’s gravity was to what the Alteans were used to.

Who knows. Maybe he could even figure out if the atmosphere was thinner or thicker than Earth’s. Although, if the Altean’s gravity was weaker, it would be a safe bet to assume their atmosphere was thinner as well.

“Found one!” Coran crowed.

“Woah,” Hunk gasped. “Already?”

Coran excitedly entered the coordinates for the Balmera into the pod’s computer. “It’s a fair distance, but nothing this pod can’t handle,” Coran said. “Hopefully, we can get there, get a crystal, and get back to Arus within a day.”

“Um, is that realistic or optimistic?” Hunk asked hesitantly.

“Ridiculously optimistic,” Coran said plainly.

“Oh.” Hunk’s hopes sank.

“But we have to be optimistic right now,” the adviser said firmly, gripping the controls and pushing them forward. “We need to get back in time to help Lance.”

Well, yeah, there was that.

“Luckily,” Coran continued, pressing several buttons on the pod’s dashboard, “Altean pods can use a slipstream.”

“You mean like what the Galra use?” Hunk asked. “The warp drive or hyperdrive thing?”

“I’m not sure what those are,” Coran said, looking at Hunk with a completely clueless expression. He flipped a switch and gripped the control yoke just as the pod’s slipstream activated. “A slipstream essentially uses quintessence to create a fold in the fabric of space-time. This causes the point of origin and the destination to become closer than they actually are in normal space-time. That fold is what we call the ‘slipstream.’”

The pod shuddered as it traversed the fold in space-time. Now Hunk was feeling a bit sick.

“Normally,” Coran continued, oblivious to his passenger’s growing discomfort, “we wouldn’t even bother using a slipstream. We would just use a wormhole created by the Castle. But since the Castle has no power, slipstream it is.”

“I thought a wormhole was a fold in space-,” he coughed, “time.” Oh no. Oh no, oh no, ohnoohnoonoohno….

“It is,” Coran said cheerfully. “It’s a perfected form of the fold. The slipstream is a rough version.”

Rough. Nonononononononono…

“But it still does the trick,” Coran chirped. “Since it’s not a wormhole, the travel time is longer and the ride is a bit uncomfortable-”

Uncomfortaaaabble…. Why?

“-but it still gets us from the beginning to the end fast enough,” the Altean said with a merry smile. “Of course, the slipstream created by the pod isn’t anywhere near as powerful or as fast and efficient as the Galran slipstream, but it’ll do. It’s all we’ve got at the moment after all.”

He flashed his passenger a merry smile and paused. “Hunk,” he said. “Are you alright? You look a little green.” He laughed. “If you wanted to be the green paladin, I’m afraid that position’s taken.”

Hunk tried. He really did.

Nope. He clamped his hand over his mouth, fighting back the bile that flooded his mouth.

Coran paled.“No,” he said. “Hunk. Hold it in just a bit longer. We’re almost there. Please, please, please, please, _please!”_

* * *

 

Pidge was making his way to the lounge with the case of medical supplies when a low rumble echoed through the Castle. Rover stopped by Pidge’s shoulder and beeped at him. It wasn’t an explosion. It actually sounded like the Castle’s power was coming back online. But how could…

The lights along the walls turned on and Pidge flinched, staring at the colored orbs in growing unease. The lights weren’t the familiar turquoise that lit the hallways with a soothing glow. They were purple and weren’t anywhere near as bright. Pidge was beginning to suspect this wasn’t a good thing.

A second later, the sound of metal tramping down the Castle’s hallway met the green paladin’s ears. Rover beeped urgently and Pidge flinched. That didn’t sound like the princess or even Shiro’s footsteps. In fact, it didn’t sound familiar at all. Alarm bells jangled in Pidge’s head, sounding a warning the green paladin was unable to ignore.

He quickly scoured the hallway walls until he noticed an air vent nearby. He dove for the vent, wriggling the slatted covering off and climbing into the tunnel. He was halfway inside when he remembered the medical kit. Cursing, he squirmed in the vent trying to turn around so he faced the opening. Now was one of the few times he was relieved to be as small as he was.

He just barely managed to snatch the medical kit, yank it into the vent, and wave Rover into the vent as well before fitting the vent cover back into place. Pidge covered Rover with his body to hide the hoverbot’s tell-tale green glow from shining through the slat's opening. Not a couple seconds later, the metal footsteps turned the corner and stalked in front of the Pidge's hiding place. Pidge watched the legs pass by in dawning horror. They were robots, similar to the training gladiators but these were a cold gray in color. Pidge tried to look up through the slats to see the robots’ heads. It was difficult to make out, but the green paladin noticed a red line of inanimate light where the robots’ eyes should be.

Were these Galra sentries? But how? How could the Galra enter the Castle? Where were the others? Why was no one stopping them?

Pidge figured the explosion was caused by the Galra, but he’d never expected the Galra to actually enter the Castle. This seemed more like a bait-and-switch. If it wad, then that meant the whole thing was a trap: the explosion, forcing the group to split up, and dismantling the Castle’s defenses. Damn it! They’d taken the bait hook, line, and sinker. How did they not see this coming?

Wait. If this was a take-over, which Pidge highly suspected it was, and no one had stopped them, then that meant everyone was gone. Coran and Hunk had taken the pod Pidge had loaded up and upgraded for his attempt to find his family on his own. It had been a selfish move, but in the end it had proven useful. Shiro and Keith should be in the lounge with Allura and Lance. Why hadn’t they done anything to stop this?

What if they didn’t know? Keith probably wouldn’t leave Lance’s side, and Pidge doubted Shiro would willingly leave Allura alone. That meant something else had happened.

The Arusians. Someone may have gone to help the Arusians. But that didn’t make sense because Pidge hadn’t heard anything over his communicator. What was going on?

The metal footsteps faded and Pidge released his pent-up breath in a relieved gust. Rover beeped softly in what sounded like a question. Pidge just had to get to Lance and Allura in the lounge. Then he’d get the answers he need..ed…

The sentries were heading towards the lounge.

Pidge bit back a curse and cautiously worked the vent cover off and crawled out of the semi-tight space. He replaced the cover and made his way down the hall after the metal robots. He slowed when he reached the last curve before arriving at the lounge and peaked around the corner. Rover peered over Pidge’s shoulder into the room as well.

“Rover,” Pidge whispered. The hoverbot turned its camera to him. “Record this,” he commanded. Hopefully, this wouldn’t be needed. But just in case. “If anything happens to me, get out of here. Get this to Shiro or Allura. If you can’t find them, get it to someone who can help. Understood?”

Rover beeped and Pidge nodded. Together, they looked around the corner again and watched. The lounge was empty. Pidge breathed a sigh of relief. Shiro or Keith must have learned of the attack and moved to a safer location with Allura and Lance. But why hadn’t they contacted Pidge about the change in plans? Unless the comms weren’t secured; or worse, they weren’t working at all. If it was the latter, then that meant Pidge was completely cut off.

He bit his thumb nail, considering his options. He could attempt to contact Shiro or Keith, but that could give away his position in the Castle. This wasn’t exactly the most ideal situation to try that.

“We have a prisoner,” a mechanical voice said, startling Pidge from his thoughts.

“What race?” a distinctly unfamiliar voice said over the Castle speakers.

Damn it. Were the Galra completely in control of the Castle?

“Altean,” the robotic voice replied. “Male.”

 _Lance!_ Pidge realized. _Why was Lance alone? Why weren’t Shiro and Keith with him. What about Allura? Why wasn’t she there too?_

“Good,” the Galra over the Castle’s speakers said, sounding immensely pleased. “Incapacitate him and bring him to the bridge.”

“He’s already incapacitated,” came the unfeeling reply.

“Even better,” the Galra said. “Bring him here. I want him alive.”

“Vrepit sa.”

_Ribbit what?_

Pidge peered around the corner, doing his best to remain unnoticed. He gasped when one of the robots lifted Lance from the couch and slung him indelicately over its shoulder. The prince was still unconscious. Considering how uncomfortable he would probably be given the position the robot held him in, Pidge counted it a small blessing. Unfortunately, Lance being unconscious meant he couldn’t fight or defend himself. Had Lance been awake and fully aware, Pidge knew he would’ve given the sentries a nasty fight.

But Lance wasn’t conscious, and no one else was here. It was just Pidge and Rover. Pidge’s armor and bayard were in his bedroom and Pidge suspected Lance’s bayard was in the prince’s room too. In order to get them, Pidge would have to leave Lance alone with the Galra. Who knows what they would do with him? The green paladin had no idea what to do.

The robots turned and began making their way back down the hallway Pidge was in. Pidge quickly made his way back to the air vent he’d hidden in before to wait them out. He watched helplessly as the Galra sentries walked passed him, Lance’s body dangling uselessly over one of their shoulders.

Pidge could probably take them if he’d had his bayard. He needed his bayard right now more than anything. He knew the Galra controlling the Castle’s speakers had ordered the sentries to take Lance to the bridge. Pidge sort of remembered how to get there through the vents. Lance had taken great pleasure in showing the green paladin how to sneak around the vent system; why not use that knowledge to his advantage now?

Pidge eyed the medical kit worriedly for a moment before deciding to leave it behind- it would just slow him down. He would make do if he got to Lance. The Galra seemed to want him alive. Hopefully, they would keep him that way long enough for Pidge to get his bayard. While he was at it, he might as well get Lance’s bayard too. Their bedrooms were relatively close after all.

Pidge backed down the air vent until it reached a junction and sat up. The inner vent tunnels were larger for ease of access, probably for maintenance workers. The larger vents were just big enough for Pidge to sit upright in them and crawl on his hands and knees with ease.

Pidge took a moment to orient himself in his mental map of the Castle’s tunnels. He hadn’t been able to memorize them all, but he remembered enough to figure out which way to go from here. It was a start.

* * *

 

“This doesn’t make sense,” Keithek muttered, studying the sentries twitching and sparking on the ground.

“You’re right,” Shiro agreed, stomping on the nearest sentry’s head when the light on the helmet didn’t go out right away.  “It was almost too easy.”

The princess glared at the Arusian village and the few sentries lying on the ground.  “At least they didn’t do much damage,” she said in relief.

“Many thanks, great Lion Goddess,” the Arusian chief said, bowing to her.

Allura rolled her eyes and grumbled, “I’m not a goddess.” She turned to her black and red paladins in concern. “I agree though. This was much too easy to deal with. These are just sentries. There aren’t any real Galra here.”

“Right,” Shiro agreed. “Sentries don’t have the capability to set an explosion and do this at the same time. They just drones. They’re useless without someone in command. Unless…” He whirled to the Castle in horror. “Shit. It’s a trap!”

Keithek’s eyes grew round and he turned back to the Castle, his ears folding back against his head. The Castle lit the night once more, its power returned. But it wasn’t Altean blue, it was the reddish-purple preferred by the Galra.

“No,” Allura breathed. “Lance.”

_Lance!_

_“No!”_ Keithek cried, racing down the path from the Arusian village to the Castle.

He could hear the princess and Shiro close behind him but they weren’t important. Only Lance was important. He’d left Lance alone in the Castle unwatched, unguarded. He’d failed to protect his mate. He had to get back to Lance. He _had_ to.

He was so close. So close.

When something purple appeared in front of him, he couldn’t stop in time. He didn’t _want_ to stop. He slammed into the purple barrier, screaming when a sharp shock jolted through his body, tossing him back to the ground.

“Keith!” Shiro cried, crouching to help the red paladin up. “You alright?”

“They raised the barrier,” Allura said, staring at the purple scale pattern of the Castle’s particle barrier. “The Galra have the Castle. Lance.” Her face hardened in fury. “They planned this,” she growled, clenching her fists. “They had to have a crystal ready for this. This wasn’t an impulse attack.”

“I agree,” Shiro said. “They had to have planned this- Keith,  _stop!”_

“Let go!” Keith roared, throwing himself against the barrier. “I have to get to him. I have to get to Lance. Lance. _Lance!”_

“Stop!” Shiro shouted, wrapping his arms around the halfbreed’s body, pinning Keithek’s arms to his side and preventing him from escaping. “You’ll just hurt yourself.”

“No,” Keithek said. “Let me go. Let _go!_ _LANCE!”_

“Keith!”

Keithek stilled at the princess’s command, but shot her a vicious glare. “How _dare_ you try to stop me!” he snapped. “He’s my _mate!”_

“I know,” Allura said, meeting Keithek’s glare with one of her own that was just as formidable. “I’m not going to stop you from getting to Lance. But throwing yourself against an active particle barrier isn’t going to do anything. It’ll just end up hurting you and leaving you useless to me _and to_ Lance.”

Keithek calmed, enough for Shiro to hesitantly release his hold, but continued to glare at the princess. “Then what do you expect me to do? Nothing?” he demanded.

“Hardly,” Allura snapped. She grinned. “I expect you to help me find a way to get back in there. He’s my brother too, remember.”

Keithek relaxed his stance. Allura was right. Lance may be his mate, but he was also Allura’s brother. It made sense for her to want to get her brother back.

“Fine,” he agreed. “What should we do?”

“I suggest we hide,” Shiro said, staring up at the Castle. “We’re sitting ducks out here without protection.”

“Sitting what?” Keithek asked. “What’s a duck?”

“Right,” Allura said. “We can go back to the Arusian village-”

“No need,” Shiro said. “Follow me.” He made his way to the stone railing along the bridge and climbed over it, gesturing for the princess and Keithek to join him. “There’s a ledge underneath here. We can hide and plan our counterattack from here.”

Allura snapped out of her surprise quickly. “Right.” She climbed over the railing without hesitation.

Keithek had to marvel at her courage. These bridges were easily several hundred spans above the ground. This wasn’t the highest bridge, but it wasn’t the lowest of the bunch either. Even he was a bit hesitant about climbing over the edge without any safety fall-backs. But if it meant he had a better chance of getting back to Lance, then he would do it. His mate was worth it.

* * *

 

It hurt. Everywhere hurt. But his back hurt the most. Quiznak. He was seriously getting annoyed with constantly waking up in pain. First it was with a headache in front of Zarkon as a prisoner, then it was from muscle aches after hours of Allura’s laborious training, and now this. How did this happen again?

He tried to remember what would make his back hurt so badly. He wasn’t nearly old enough for back pain. Well, not physically anyway. He grumbled and rolled over onto his side…

…and _immediately regretted it!_

He cried out as something sharp dug into his back from this new angle, compounded by his arms being held in such an awkward position behind him... Behind him?

He opened his eyes and tried to turn his head to see what was holding his arms back. He tugged his arms but was met by harsh resistance by something wrapped around his wrists.

What? What was going on?

“Ah, finally awake I see.”

He froze. Why? Why was he hearing that voice here? He should be in the Castle with Allura.

Allura!

The hoverbot that wasn’t Rover. The explosion. The pain. Allura’s face, so frightened. Was she alright? Where was she?

Oh, quiznak. Did the Galra find her? Did they know?

He lifted his eyes from his position on the floor and saw the one person who should not be here. Why did this kind of thing keep happening to him?

“Sendak,” he breathed.

“Your highness,” the Galra commander leered.


	7. A-maze-ing Temerity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Pidge is master of mazes, rover is stronger than it looks, and Lance enjoys testing his captor's self-control.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **A/N:** A mid-day update? What is this blasphemy? This is to make up for not updating last night. I literally fell asleep while writing. Oops. So here's the update shat should've been up last night with a suitably pun-ishing title. XD Enjoy. The next chapter should be up tonight as usual.

He could hear the steady thrum of power through the tunnel walls. Even with his armor on, the embedded crystals glowing the soft turquoise he’d come to find soothing, he could feel the subtle vibrations as the Castle’s power increased. Something was happening. Whatever it was, it couldn’t be good.

But was it worth the risk of asking for help? What if it got worse? What if ‘worse’ was actually too late? What if ‘worse’ wasn’t too late and he ended up giving away his position in the Castle? Right now, he had the element of surprise on his side. If he asked for help, he would very likely lose that secret weapon.

So again, was it worth the risk?

Shit. Yeah, it was.

“Shiro,” he said softly into his communicator. “Keith. Can you hear me? A-”

 _“Pidge!”_ came Keith’s startled reply _. “Jurt! Is that you?”_

 _“Pidge,”_ Shiro said _. “Where are you?”_

“I’m inside the Castle,” Pidge said. “Where are you guys? You were supposed to be with Lance.”

There was a faint keening sound over the communicator that Pidge vaguely recognized as Keith. That’s right. Keith and Lance were mates. Pidge would bet money Keith wasn’t handling the situation very well.

 _“We’re outside,”_ Shiro said. _“The Galra attacked the Arusian village."_

“It was a trap, wasn’t it?” Pidge grumbled.

 _“Yeah,”_ Shiro said, sounding vaguely put out. _“We can’t get back in. The Galra have infiltrated the Castle. They raised the particle barrier.”_

“They did more than that,” Pidge said, glancing at Rover hovering loyally by his shoulder. “They got Lance.” Keith’s keening came through Pidge’s speaker again and he winced. “I take it Keith’s not doing too well right now.”

 _“None of us are,”_ came Allura’s voice morosely.

“Al-” Nope. Can’t use her name. If the Galra could hear this transmission, then it was best to use a cover name. Shit. Oh well. Hopefully Shiro would catch on. “Katie!” Pidge said. “Are you with Shiro and Keith?”

 _“Katie?”_   the princess repeated in confusion.

 _“Yes she is!”_ Shiro said over Allura. Pidge let out a huge breath in relief _. “We’re all here. Looks like you’re the only one inside.”_

 _“R-right,”_ Allura said _. “We’re hiding out right now. From the sound of it, the Galra are trying to launch the Castle.”_

“Is that what they’re doing?” Pidge asked. “I wasn’t sure.”

 _“Listen, Pidge,”_ Allura said. _“If they are planning to take off, then we have to stop them before they finish powering up the primary turbine. I need you to get down to the main engine room and disconnect the primary the turbine from the crystal chamber. If you do that, then it’ll force the Galra to reset to system by hand. That should buy us some time to figure out a way back in and fix this situation.”_

“Gotcha. I’m in an air vent right now,” Pidge said, glancing at his surroundings. “I’m not 100% familiar with the vent tunnels.”

 _“That’s fine,”_ Allura said. _“Lance and I used to play in them. I know them better than he does. I can guide you. How did you get to where you are right now?”_

“I got in from the vent in the hallway between the lounge and the emergency stairs by the lift to the pod hangar bay,” Pidge said.

_“Was the vent closer to the lift or closer to the lounge?”_

“The lift,” Pidge said.

_“Alright. Did you take any turns after you got in?”_

Pidge shook his head, belatedly remembering the princess couldn’t see him. “No,” he said aloud. “I climbed straight down the tunnel to the first junction.”

 _“Good,”_ Allura said _. “Is there a ladder along the side of the tunnel going down from the junction?”_

Pidge leaned over the side of the tunnel he sat in and answered. “Yeah. You want me to go down?”

 _“Yes. Go down,”_ Allura commanded _. “Go straight through the first three major junctions, then take one of the vents going left.”_

“Got it,” Pidge said. “I’ll call you when I get there.”

Pidge maneuvered himself carefully over the edge of the vent he sat in and put his booted foot on one of the rungs of the ladder in the vent going down. He would have to be careful to keep a firm grip on the rungs. The only sources of light he had were the turquoise from the crystals in his armor and the green from the crevices in Rover’s metal casing. Rover beeped and flew down so it hovered under Pidge’s feet, lighting the way.

“Thanks Rover,” Pidge said, smiling at his little friend.

Rover beeped back cheerfully and continued to light Pidge’s way. It took a few minutes for Pidge to finish climbing down to the third major junction. He would have to turn left from here. Thing is, there were several vents heading left. Also, which direction was the ‘left’ Allura meant?

“Hey Katie,” Pidge said into his communicator.

 _“I’m here, Pidge,”_ Allura said after a moment. She must’ve forgotten Pidge was using a different name for her. _“Are you at the third junction?”_

“Yeah,” the green paladin said. “Um, which direction is ‘left’?”

 _“Are you facing the ladder you just climbed down?”_ the princess asked. She sounded strained, probably trying to visualize what Pidge was seeing.

“Yeah,” Pidge said. “There are three vents to my left, they’re all different sizes and I’m not sure which one to take.”

_“Alright. The one to the far left should be the largest of the three.”_

“It is.”

 _“Good. Take that one,”_ the princess commanded _. “The larger vents lead to the main engine room. It’s how the Castle heats the rooms and keeps the engine cool. The air circulation system is mechanical. It doesn’t need power to work. The force of the air keeps it working.”_

“So follow the larger tunnels and hot air,” Pidge muttered. “Right. Makes sense.”

 _“Was he awake?”_ Keith asked suddenly.

“What?” Pidge asked, halting his movements in surprise. “Was who awake?”

 _“L-Lance,”_ Keith said _. “When they took him. Was he awake?”_

“No, he wasn’t,” Pidge said softly, pulling himself up into the large tunnel heading left. “He was still unconscious.”

 _“I shouldn’t have left him,”_ Keith moaned.

 _“We’ll get him back, Keith,”_ Shiro said gently. Pidge pictured the black paladin patting the Galra halfbreed on the back comfortingly _. “Don’t worry.”_

 _“Who took him?”_ Keith demanded viciously, startling Pidge.

“Uh, they were sentries I think,” Pidge said. “Robots. There was a real Galra over the intercom though.”

 _“Did you hear any names?”_ Keith pressed _. “Any at all? Did you hear ‘Sendak’ or ‘Haxus’ by any chance?”_

“No,” Pidge replied, hardening his eyes as he crawled through the tunnel. It was slightly slanted downward, but not enough to make it difficult to keep his balance. “I’ll keep an ear open for names, though. If I hear any, I’ll let you know.”

 _“Good,”_ the red paladin growled _. “I need to know whose throat to rip out.”_

 _“If you get to them first,”_ Allura said darkly.

 _“I will,”_ Keith promised.

 _“In this case,”_ Shiro said, cutting off the argument before it had a chance to begin, _“I think we should get back inside before killing anyone. That said, I’ll hold him down so you two can take this Galra out.”_

Keith made a purring sound and Allura snickered _. “I can go with that,”_ the princess said.

“You guys are insane,” Pidge said smirking. “I like it.” Rover beeped and Pidge noticed he was at another junction. The largest tunnel was to the left but angled downward at a sharper slope than the one Pidge currently sat in. Thankfully there was a ladder along the lower side for ease of access. “Keep taking the larger tunnels, right, Katie?” he asked as he turned himself around before stretching out a foot for the closest rung.

 _“Yes,”_ Allura replied.

Pidge grunted as he pushed himself over the gaping tunnel heading directly down in the middle of the junction. His foot slipped and he gave a startled cry. Then his ankle hit something hard and angular. Pidge ducked his head and stared down at his foot between his body and the tunnel floor. Rover beeped at him, holding Pidge’s foot balanced on its angular top.

“Thanks Rover,” Pidge said.

* * *

 

Lance glared at the Galra looming over him. “I didn’t think you were so eager to get spit at again,” he said.

Sendak bared his teeth.

“Careful, Sendak,” Lance warned. “Your grand master saw you punch me once.” He grinned. “You’ll have to save that punch for when you’re really angry.”

“Assuming the emperor still wants you,” Sendak said, turning on his heel to study the control panels in the crystal chamber.

“I’m alive,” Lance said, shifting so his back didn’t hurt as bad. “You would have killed me already if your emperor didn’t still want me alive.”

“You have a high opinion of yourself,” the Galra commander said mildly. “Did it ever occur to you that maybe I wanted you for my own purposes?”

Lance flinched. It had, but he’d disregarded it. Unless Sendak reported him dead, there was no reason for the emperor to not want him. Zarkon suspected the Lions were tied to Lance. If Zarkon wanted the Lions functioning properly, then he would need Lance to stay alive.

“You’re lying,” Lance said.

“Perhaps,” the Galra said. “But do you know for sure if I am or not?”

No.

Sendak chuckled. “You have a lot of bark, little prince,” he said in amusement. “But I have yet to see your bite.”

“I spit in your face last time we saw each other,” the prince ventured.

“Yes,” Sendak said. “I remember.” His voice sounded only mildly annoyed. Was Lance missing something? “I’ve been meaning to pay you back for that by the way,” the commander continued. “Imagine my surprise when you escaped my ship with that filthy halfbreed and the Red Lion. Since we were at slipstream at the time, I believed you lost.” He turned back to the prince with a proud grin. “But now I find you again. Not only that, I now have your Castle and all of the Lions of Voltron. Congratulations, your highness. You’ve made me and Emperor Zarkon most pleased.”

Lance sneered. “Yeah. Too bad I had to do all the work for you to get that praise,” he said.

He immediately flinched in preparation for the inevitable strike. But it never came. Instead of fury, Sendak merely smiled.

“I see what you’re doing, little prince,” the Galra commander said. “Had we still been on my ship, you would have paid for that comment with your tongue. However,” he said, turning back to the control panel before him, “seeing as I’m in a good mood right now and I currently have possession of _your_ ship, I’ll spare you that consequence. For now.”

“We’re ready to initiate the launch sequence, commander.”

Lance bit back the pain and sat up so he could see the other speaker. It was unsurprisingly another Galra. In fact, it was the very same Galra who’d held Lance still when Sendak interrogated him.

“Well done, Haxus,” Sendak said. “You may begin.”

Launch? Lance stiffened, working his wrists against the unforgiving bonds that held them. If the Castle made it off the planet’s surface, then there would be almost nothing to stop Sendak from bringing Voltron to the Galra Empire. The rebellion would be over before it even had a chance to begin. Not to mention the fact Lance was in no hurry to be in the same room with the traitor again so soon.

Quiznak. Why did he have to get stuck like this? He hated feeling useless. He was the Sentinel, not some damsel in distress. But there was nothing he could do in his current state. All he could do was wait and pray that the Galran crystal, pulsing a sickening purple in the floor of the crystal chamber underneath where the Balmera crystal should have been, wasn’t strong enough to handle the power output needed for launch.

* * *

 

The rest of the trek was uneventful, until he reached what had to be the main engine room. He carefully turned himself around so he faced the slatted vent which looked out over the engine room. It was then that Pidge noticed a rather significant problem.

“Hey, Katie?”

 _“I’m here, Pidge,”_ Allura replied. _“Are you at the engine room yet?”_

“Y-yeah. Um, I’m in the ceiling,” Pidge said. “And it’s a long way down.”

It really was. The floor was practically nonexistent as far as Pidge was concerned. He knew it was there; it had to be. This was a castle after all. There had to be a bottom. But the light created by what was probably the primary turbine- although it didn’t look like any turbine Pidge had ever seen before- hid the floor from view. Only a long, narrow catwalk connected the door in the wall far below with a control panel close to the turbine. The catwalk formed a ring around the space the turbine occupied to provide a view from all sides, probably in case something wasn’t working correctly.

Well, if Pidge did this right, something certainly wouldn’t be working correctly.

Allura sounded regretful _. “Yes, it is,”_ she said. _“I’m sorry, but I know you can do it.”_

“That sounds suspiciously like you forgot the vents came out in the ceiling,” Pidge said.

 _“I…may have,”_ Allura admitted hesitantly.

Pidge groaned. “Okay. I got this,” he muttered to himself. “I can do this. Think, Pidge, think.”

He scanned the expanse of the main engine room, trying to gauge the distance between the vent and the catwalk with the control panel. There weren’t any loops or anything on the walls of the chamber to grab onto and climb up or down on. But maybe he wouldn’t need them.

Rover nudged the green paladin and beeped drawing Pidge’s attention to it. The hoverbot flashed and turned so its camera eye faced the inactive bayard hooked on Pidge’s belt. That was certainly an option.

“Think you can handle the weight?” he asked his robot friend.

Rover beeped what Pidge hoped was an affirmative.

“Alright, buddy,” he said.

He unhooked his bayard and activated it. The green blade glowed bright green and buzzed with energy. Pidge shook it and was pleased to see the blade detach from the bayard handle and clunk to the floor of the vent tunnel. He tied the buzzing blade around Rover’s small mechanical body.

“You sure about this?” Pidge asked his robot friend one more time. “It won’t hurt you, will it?”

Rover made its body turn side to side in a facsimile of a negative head shake. Pidge snickered at the action. “Alright,” he said. “As long as you’re sure.”

He worked the vent cover free and pulled it into the tunnel. He crawled forward so his knees balanced on the edge of the tunnel, inches from topping over into oblivion. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

“Let me know when you’re ready,” he said.

Rover beeped and flew out into the engine room until it hovered over the vast expanse. Its camera eye turned back to Pidge and flashed, indicating it was ready.

“Alright,” Pidge said. “Here goes nothing.”

He held onto his bayard with both hands, extremely glad he couldn’t sweat through his gloves. Without waiting to actually think the whole thing through, Pidge allowed himself to fall forward. He may have shrieked a little before his voice caught at the same time his body stopped falling and started swinging. He laced his fingers together over the bayard’s handle and hoped it could take the strain.

Rover beeped and began descending through the air with its friend.

“Woah,” Pidge said, watching the hoverbot glide down to the catwalk in a smooth ride. “Rover, did I ever tell you how awesome you are?”

Rover beeped in a higher pitch than usual and Pidge laughed.

“Well you are,” he said.

He stretched out his toes when he got close to the catwalk and breathed a sigh of relief when he touched the solid surface. Rover did a little wobbling jig in the air and Pidge smiled at it fondly.

“Come on, buddy,” he said. “Let’s go take care of this turbine thing.”

Together, the duo made their way to the control panel.

“Okay,” Pidge said into his communicator. “I’m at the control panel. What do I do?”

 _“How did… Nevermind,”_ Allura said quickly _. “There should be an access hatch in the column under the panel. Open it.”_

Pidge crouched and pulled the metal covering off of the panel and stared at the inside of the control panel. “There’re six different glowing tube thingies in here,” Pidge said.

 _“Good. Find the main control center and enter this sequence,”_ Allura said. She took a deep breath, ready to spout out the sequence.

“Wait, wait, wait!” Pidge said. “How do I know what the main control center is? All the symbols are in Altean.”

The light from the turbine suddenly got brighter. Pidge sat back and stared at the glowing orb of energy in awe as it began to expand almost to the edges of the catwalk platform surround it.

“I think it’s activating,” Pidge said.

 _“You have to hurry,”_ Allura said urgently.

“I don’t know Altean,” Pidge shouted in mild panic. “I only understand you guys at all because of those translator chip thingies you gave us.”

Pidge tuned out the princess’s voice when he noticed Rover fly down to the hatch and turn to face him beeping and flashing. The green bayard blade was still active and buzzing where it was tied to Rover’s body.

“Worth a try,” he said.

 _“Pidge,”_ Allura said _. “Pidge, wait. What are you doing? Pidge-”_

“Katie?” Pidge called when the connection suddenly cut off. “Katie? Katie!”

The energy from the primary turbine glowing thing must be interfering with the signal. Pidge grit his teeth. After a second, he grabbed Rover so he could use his bayard blade.

“Whatever,” he muttered, and slashed all of the tubes with the buzzing blade.

There was a brilliant burst of light that knocked Pidge off his feet, sending him sliding back across the catwalk platform. He pushed himself up and stared at the turbine. The light faded and the turbine shrank back to a much smaller size. Hopefully that was a good thing. He didn’t want to stick around to find out.

“Let’s get out of here,” he said to Rover.

The hoverbot beeped and waited for Pidge to grip his bayard handle before flying back up over the expanse to the air vent.

* * *

 

The Castle shuddered and the control panel Haxus stood at suddenly sparked, forcing the Galra to retreat. “The main engine just shorted out,” Haxus exclaimed.

“What?” Sendak demanded. “Show me.”

A video feed of the main engine room appeared on the view screen. A red squared flashed over something in the upper left hand corner. Sendak enlarged the image and Lance’s eyes widened. That green armor belonged to Pidge. Pidge could fly without the jet pack built into his suit? Wait. Did Pidge even know about the jet pack?

“It appears we have a saboteur,” Sendak said. “Find him and kill him,” he commanded his second in command.

“Vrepit sa, sir,” Haxus said, saluting Sendak before racing out the door.

Lance grinned. “So,” he said, “I do all the work, you get the Castle and me, but you can’t hold onto them and keep them under control. Why the emperor tolerates you is beyond me.”

Sendak growled. “You would be wise to keep that mouth shut, little prince,” he warned.

“Why?” Lance asked, giving the Galra commander a daring grin. “Too close to the truth for comfort?”

Sendak clenched his fist angrily and raised his left arm to strike. Lance braced for impact. A tick before contact, Sendak stopped himself. Lance opened his eyes warily to see the Galra stand back and take a deep breath.

“Shrewd,” Sendak said. “I’m impressed.”

Lance glared Sendak. He flinched when Sendak extended his hand towards his face again. He was caught off guard when the Galra merely brushed a furred finger down his cheek. A sharp nail dug into the soft skin under his chin, lifting his face so he was forced to meet the Galra commander’s biological and mechanical eyes.

“When I strike you, it will be on my terms,” Sendak purred. “Not yours. Although I applaud your attempts to infuriate me, little prince; I’m afraid all it will do is worsen the end result when I finally do strike you.” He grinned and pressed a finger against the scale at the corner of Lance’s right eye eliciting a pained yelp. “The emperor may want you alive, but a person can live just fine with one eye. I’m living proof of that.”

Lance shuddered, fighting through the pain to glare hatefully at the Galra. He would not submit to the likes of him. He would not.


	8. Liquefy Stone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Sendak suspects 'Katie,' Hunk and Coran make contact, and Lance refuses to submit to the nightmarish reality.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **A/N:** And here's the second chapter, as promised. Two chapters in one day. Y'all're spoiled. XD I had fun writing this, especially the last bit. I dropped a pretty huge hint as to how Lance and Allura's siblings died. 
> 
> If you want to see a tame version of what kind of deaths they experienced, watch _Hercule Poirot: Murder in Mesopotamia_ which can be found on Netflix or at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K56Wv_dBF1w. The death occurs at 1:00:48-1:01:43 in the YouTube video. Side note, David Suchet is my one and only Poirot.
> 
>  **ALSO,** I have fanart now. Yay! Here's the link: http://triscribe.tumblr.com/image/151546412229

Haxus returned not two tecks later breathing hard. “Commander Sendak,” he called, running into the crystal chamber. “The paladin wasn’t anywhere near the main engine room. I believe he may be traveling through the air vents.”

Sendak released Lance’s face and stood, narrowing his one golden eye at his second in command. “I see.” He glanced at the few vents along the ceiling of the room suspiciously. “Check for any communications originating from within the Castle,” he ordered. “It’s unlikely the paladin knows the entire vent system by memory.”

Lance snorted, earning him a glare. “What?” the prince taunted. “I sneezed.”

Sendak bared his teeth. Restraining himself was becoming a battle of self-control he did not wish to devote his valuable mental control towards. Not with a saboteur aboard. Haxus ignored the Altean’s display in favor of obeying his commander’s order. He approached the control panel he’d vacated tecks ago and began a search of any communication signals by hand.

“Sir,” Haxus exclaimed. “I found one.” A few quick keystrokes and a female voice Lance knew intimately well rang over the room’s speakers.

 _“There’s not much time before they get the ship up and running again,”_ the woman said. _“I need you to shut off the particle barrier so we can get inside.”_

 _“On it,”_ a younger voice Lance knew belonged to Pidge. _“What do I do Katie?”_

Katie?

 _“The particle barrier generator is beneath the main hull,”_ ‘Katie’ explained urgently.

“She’s telling the intruder how to dismantle our defenses,” Haxus growled angrily.

“Yes,” Sendak said, studying the Altean prince’s face closely. He’d noticed the distinct pallor that had stolen the life from the Altean’s complexion when the woman began speaking. “But she’s also giving us the exact location of our spy,” he said.

Lance looked up at Sendak and met his glare with one of his own. The Galra snorted. The edge from the Altean’s glare was nowhere near as sharp as it had been. Most interesting.

“Sentries,” he ordered the robot foot soldiers standing by the crystal chamber’s entrance. “Find the particle barrier generator and kill the paladin when he shows himself.”

As the robots left in a synchronized march, Sendak continued. “In the meantime, Haxus,” he said, “repair the engine. The emperor is expecting us to bring him Voltron and the little prince. It would be rude of us to make him wait.”

“Vrepit sa, sir,” Haxus said, and began typing away, making repairs as quickly as he could from up here.

“I take it this ‘Katie’ is someone you hold dear,” Sendak said, taking note of the way the prince flinched. He smiled. “I promise to extend the best of Galran hospitality to her when we find her.”

The Altean glared. “I’ll kill you before you get the chance,” he growled.

Sendak laughed. “Well, well,” he said. “It has a bite, after all. Too bad it can’t sink its fangs in. For that, I promise to dispatch her myself, in front of you of course. Wouldn’t want to deprive you of a farewell, now would we?”

Lance felt his heart sink in his chest, wriggling his wrists against the restraints. The movements sent pangs of stinging pain up his spine, but it was tolerable. If he could get out of here and protect Allura, he would. It was his duty. More importantly, she was his sister. He had to protect her. He couldn’t stand the thought of watching her suffer the safe horrific fate of their siblings.

He’d die first.

* * *

 

_“Unidentified vessel. Identify yourself and declare your destination and purpose here.”_

“Well,” Coran said, shrugging. “I guess it was too much to hope our arrival would be completely missed.”

He descended the pod through the Balmera’s atmosphere a little quicker.

_“Unidentified craft. Respond now or be shot down.”_

“Um, Coran, maybe we should answer them,” Hunk said. “You know, so we don’t die.”

Coran sighed and opened a channel. “Um, hello. No offense meant,” he began, ignoring the way the yellow paladin covered his face with his hand. “We don’t intend to land. Just passing through.”

_“Unidentified craft. Land now and prepare to be boarded.”_

“Whoops,” Coran chirped, his humor unsullied by the Galra’s intimidation. “Whelp, it was worth a try.”

“Coran,” Hunk said. “Please don’t.”

“Hold on.”

The Altean pulled back on the controls, pulling the pod up short just as an enormous Galra vessel materialized through the clouds directly above them. Coran pressed two buttons and tipped the nose of the pod down before adding power. The pod blasted into a wobbly, inelegant loop that spit it out facing the way they’d come. Hunk clung to the armrests of his chair and prayed he wouldn’t cover the pod’s interior with vomit as Coran sped across the Balmera’s surface towards a huge, cavernous pit.

“The poor creature,” Coran mourned. “The Galra have turned it into a mining colony. There’s not a crystal in sight. For such a gentle creature like a Balmera to meet such a cruel fate…” He shook his head, oblivious to his companion’s discomfort. “This is truly unforgivable.”

Hunk was mildly confused by the way the Altean referred to the Balmera. “You’re talking about it like it’s alive,” he said, swallowing a burp. “I thought the Balmera was a planet.”

“Oh no, not at all,” Coran said, tipping the pod’s nose down into the nearest mining pit to avoid the Galra vessel currently chasing them and gaining on them. “The Balmera are living creatures. They’re petrified but alive. They naturally produce the crystals we use to power our technology. The process of harvesting a crystal is a delicate thing. The Balmera willingly gives us one of its crystals and, in exchange, we give them some of our life force to heal the wound left behind.”

He sighed dreamily as he dove the craft, all while Hunk screamed in terror next to him. “Ah yes,” he reminisced. “I remember when my grandfather came here to harvest crystals to build the Castle of Lions. I came with him a few times when he harvested some of the smaller crystals. It was an experience I shall cherish for all my days.”

Hunk kept screaming and they kept going down. “Huh, strange,” Coran said thoughtfully. “I wonder why we haven’t seen the bottom yet.”

“You wonder?!” Hunk cried. “You mean you didn’t know how deep this thing was before you dropped us down here? What is _wrong_ with you?”

“What?” Coran said, turning to the yellow paladin with an expression of honest confusion. “You didn’t want us to be captured now, did you?”

“Well no, but-”

“Then this was the best thing to do,” Coran said, waving his hands.

“Don’t let go of the controls!”

“Besides,” Coran continued seriously, “this sight breaks my heart. This is just beyond cruel. The Galra should pay dearly for what they’ve done to this magnificent creature.”

“Just land this thing and I’ll throw up all over them if we find them,” Hunk said, looking very green.

“Oh, you would do that?” Coran cried excitedly. “That would be a sight to see. You _must_ do that.”

Hunk could only flash the adviser an ‘OK’ sign with his hand and focus on controlling his breathing. Eventually, the Altean pulled the pod up and landed it gently on the ground. When Coran raised the particle shield acting as the cockpit roof, Hunk immediately unbuckled himself and threw himself to the Balmera’s solid surface.

“Ground,” he cheered. “Solid ground. Bless you.” He sniffed tearfully. “I love you.”

“Your human habits are very confusing,” Coran said, stepping out of the pod next to Hunk. He tilted his head and watched as the yellow paladin literally kissed the ground. “Very confusing indeed.”

Footsteps echoed through one of the earthen tunnels near where the Altean and paladin had landed. Hunk tensed and sat up, drawing his bayard and activating it. “Don’t come any closer,” Hunk called to whoever or whatever approached them. “I have a giant gun and I’m not sure how to use it.”

“That’s…not very encouraging,” Coran said, eyeing the yellow paladin in disappointment.

Glowing yellow eyes appeared in the darkness and Hunk tightened his grip on his bayard, but didn’t fire right away. He was glad he’d waited. The people who emerged from the darkness were not what he was expecting.

“Hey,” Hunk said, lowering his weapon, “you’re not Galra.”

“Nor are you,” the being on the left said in a distinctly female voice.

The being on the right looked up when a whirring sound wafted down the cavern they stood in. Hunk followed the being’s gaze and saw a Galra-made ship descending towards them, sending beams of red light in a circular pattern.

“A patrol!” the being declared. “Shay, we must take leave of these creatures now.”

“No!” Hunk cried. “Wait. Don’t leave us here.”

“Yes,” Coran said. “If the Galra find us they’ll torture us.”

“Or kill us,” Hunk added.

“Or keep us as pets to play with how they please,” Coran sad, wriggling his finger in a creepy fashion. Hunk stared at the Altean in horror.

“They’d _do that?”_ he gasped.

“Not our problem, Hairy Lip,” the male creature said.

“Wait,” the female, Shay, said. “All these years only Galra have ever been seen here. I cannot turn my back on the skylings.”

The male grimaced, eventually caving under the female’s pleading gaze. “Vex,” he muttered in annoyance. “Grab a side,” he ordered the others.

Hunk hesitated until he realized the creatures were literally going to pick up and carry the pod into one of the side tunnels. He immediately, deactivated his bayard and helped the creatures lift the pod. When Coran added his surprising strength to the mix, they were able to move the pod into a tunnel and around a corner so it was hidden from the patrol’s view.

“Thanks for that,” the yellow paladin said gratefully. “I’m Hunk and this is Coran.”

“I am Shay,” the female said. “This one,” she said, gesturing to the male next to her, “is my brother Rax. How did you fall to us?”

“We’re actually looking for something,” Hunk said. “You guys might be the help we need.”

“We’re looking for a battleship class crystal,” Coran said.

Shay straightened, her yellow eyes growing wide. Her brother, however, narrowed his eyes in distaste. “Of course you are,” he growled. “You come to take as they all do. To take and give nothing back.”

“Actually,” Coran said, “if we can get the crystal back to our friends, we plan to return and offer the energy exchange required.”

“Your words are nothing,” Rax said, turning on his heel and leaving. “We will not help you.”

Shay watched her brother leave, glancing back at Hunk and Coran with worry. “Come with me,” she said eventually. “The elder shall decide your fate. If your words be as true as you say, then I pray favor shall befall you and this one.”

Hunk smiled. “Thanks,” he said. “I mean it.”

* * *

 

“Why do you seek the crystals of the Balmera?” the wizened elder Shay introduced them to asked.

Coran opened his mouth to reply, but Hunk answered faster. “My friend needs help,” he said. “He was wounded defending his sister from an explosion the Galra set. If he doesn’t get the medical attention he needs, then… Actually,” Hunk said, bowing his head, “I’m not sure what’ll happen if he doesn’t get into one of the healing pods. He could be fine and I’m just worrying, or he could die.”

“The young man in question is the prince,” Coran said, picking up where the yellow paladin left off. “He is, in every way that matters, my nephew. Please, he and his sister are the last of their family line. If they die, then there will be no one left.”

“Not to mention, we’d be down a paladin,” Hunk mumbled. “I left him behind once and he got captured. I can’t let that happen again. Please,” he pleaded, “help me.”

The elder gazed at him over the fire. When she looked away, Hunk felt as if her decision had been made but he didn’t say anything. Instead, he waited for her to speak.

“You say you will complete the energy exchange just as those of old did to heal the Balmera of her wounds,” the elder said. It hadn’t been a question and Hunk didn’t move to answer, neither did Coran. “None have completed such an exchange for years long past.”

“No,” a larger being Hunk had begun referring to as Balmerans in his mind said gravely. “They have not. We feel the Balmera’s pain, but we labor on as we must. At least we have family.” He gazed at the Balmerans sitting around the fire with the elder with the fondness of a parent.

Hunk’s heart ached as he thought of his own parents. Did they know what happened to him? Did the Garrison report him dead just like they’d done with Shiro and the rest of the Kerberos mission? Would he ever get to see his family again? Would he ever get to leave a ho’okupu for Pele with his family again?

“I understand,” Hunk said slowly, bowing his head. “I do. I haven’t seen my family in a long time. Now I probably won’t see them for even longer. But,” he raised his head and gazed directly at the elder, “if I go to them now, then the Galra will probably take over my home planet and everything I know and love will be destroyed. So I’ll do what I have to to protect them.”

The elder held Hunk’s gaze unblinkingly. Her yellow eyes were ageless and bright, a stark contrast to her aged body. Hunk knew to respect those who had seen and heard more than he had.

“The Galra have not set foot upon your home?” the elder asked in surprise.

Hunk nodded. “Not yet,” he said. “But if we don’t fight them they will. It’s only a matter of time.”

“Fight?” Shay gasped, pressing a hand over her flat chest. She dropped her gaze and placed her other hand on the ground. The area around her hand began to glow and a sound Hunk knew was the Balmera’s moaning voice filled his ears. “We cannot fight,” Shay said.

“You don’t have to,” Hunk said gently. “I think you should, but it’s not my choice. I think every race in the universe deserves to be free. If they won’t or can’t fight for that, then I’ll do it for them.”

“You speak as one who has lived more periods than you appear to have lived,” the elder said astutely.

Hunk shrugged self-consciously. “I don’t know about that,” he said awkwardly, running a hand through his black hair. “My country values freedom. It’s something we often take for granted. My family trained me not to think that way.”

“Your family is wise,” the Balmera father said, offering Hunk a smile.

The yellow paladin returned the smile. “Yeah,” he said sadly. “Yeah they are. I can’t be with them right now, but I can think about them and fight for them.”

“Um,” Shay said softly. “What is ‘free’?”

Hunk blinked in surprise and stared at Shay in shock. “You… You don’t know what freedom is?” Shay shook her head and Hunk something ache in his chest. “Then I’ll fight to make sure you experience it one day,” he swore.

He missed how the elder looked at him, but Coran didn’t.

* * *

 

“Move your smegs,” Sendak shouted at the sentries on the view screen. “How can you be outwitted and outmaneuvered by one paladin?”

Lance grinned. “Because a robot’s no match for a brain,” he said. “Or half a brain in your case.”

Sendak snarled at the prince. The despicable Altean had the audacity to smirk at him and it infuriated the Galra. It took too much concentration to keep his temper in check.

“Haxus,” he said, keeping his glare on the prisoner as he spoke, “when will you be finished with the repairs to the engine?”

“I’ve done all I can from here, sir,” Haxus said, straightening his stance. “I need to make a few more adjustments from the engine room itself. Then we should be ready to launch on your command.”

“Good,” Sendak said. “See to it then. When you get there, call the bridge. That’s where we’ll be.” He grinned. “I see no reason why we shouldn't observe our victory from the room with the best view.”

The Altean glared at Sendak as Haxus left, but it was without bite. Sendak chuckled. Soon, he promised himself. The moment they made it into space, Sendak would begin exacting his well-deserved vengeance on the prince. He would make the rebellious Altean submit before turning him over to Zarkon. He doubted the emperor would mind if the prince’s will was broken when he received him.

He grabbed the prince with his Druid-enhanced arm and yanked him to his feet. The Altean screamed as the metal irritated the wounds on his back and his arms wriggled in a useless attempt to free himself. It was but a tease compared to what Sendak would enjoy once they got off this retched planet.

“What’s the matter?” he asked the struggling Altean. “No fangs to match your bark?”

The prince ignored him, but it didn’t bother Sendak. “Perhaps your little friend would enjoy hearing your voice,” he wondered, digging one of his metal fingers into the prince’s back.

“Quiznak you,” the prince snapped in a strained voice.

Sendak snarled and dropped the Altean back to the ground, watching as the prince staggered awkwardly on his feet.

“You have quite the bark for a pacifist berry-muncher,” he commented. “According to the stories, your siblings didn’t put up nearly as much of a fight as you.” The prince bowed his head and slumped against the wall, gasping but otherwise silent. “It is unfortunate that I couldn’t watch your species crumble into the ashes where you belong. I’m told it was quite the sight to behold.”

The Altean lifted his head and glared at Sendak with a fury the Galra could actually admire. The commander laughed. “I like those eyes of yours,” he said. “I wonder what they would look like under the effects of muriatic acid.”

The color drained from the prince’s face entirely.

“Did they scream as they died?” Sendak asked. The prince remained silent, his eyes wide and unseeing, breathing hard, lost in his own mind as the Galra commander closed in. “What a symphony. A pity I couldn’t have been there to hear it.” He drew a metal finger along the Altean’s deathly pale face and leered at his prisoner. “It must haunt your dreams at night,” he murmured just loud enough for the prince to hear. “Do you blame yourself for out-living them? For watching their eyes liquefy and their skin dissolve in front of you? Did you try to save them or did you flee from them, leaving them to their fates? How is it that you survived and they didn’t? You who were born to die.”

Sendak’s smile grew as he watched the prince’s form begin to shake. He brushed the tears spilling over the Altean’s cheeks in a mockery of affection.

“I think you stayed,” he said softly, watching the Altean’s pupils shrink to mere pinpricks in a sea of dark blue. “I think you stayed to watch them die. Did you enjoy it? Were you relieved it was them and not you suffering, dying? Did you do the same to your sister when she died while in stasis? Did you stare at her dead body in those pods of yours? Was it withered beyond recognition or was it perfectly preserved from the moment of death? Is it still there? Did you keep it to remind you of the others you watched die? You’re even sicker than I am," he chuckled in amusement.

Sendak had expected a response, but not the kind he received.

The prince’s pupils grew, swallowing the irises an instant before the Altean slammed his forehead into Sendak’s, bit a furred ear, and jammed his knee into Sendak’s vulnerable crotch. Sendak roared in pained fury, reeling back from the unexpected assault.

“You filthy monstrosity,” he thundered, slashing at the prince with his Druid-enhance arm in fury.

He was pleased to hear the gratifying sound of the Altean’s shriek of surprise followed by a grunt of pain as the prince was thrown to the floor by the blow. Sendak stood, pulling his arm back to its usual length, the humming purple energy connecting it to his shoulder obeying his mental command. He stalked up to the Altean lying limp on the floor, twitching in pain.

The prince opened his eyes and met Sendak glare for glare. Despite himself, Sendak was pleased. The boy still had fight in him. That meant he would have more time to break him efficiently. He kicked the Altean over so he lay on his back, pinning his bound arms beneath him. It must be uncomfortable, especially considering his preexisting wounds. Pity.

Sendak reached down with his enhanced arm and made to grab the prisoner’s body when he noticed something he’d missed before. The prince’s clothes were torn by Sendak’s enhanced claws leaving thin streaks of blood behind. The cuts weren’t deep. They probably wouldn’t even scar. However, they weren’t what Sendak noticed.

The torn cloth had fallen away from the Altean’s neck revealing a distinct bruise any Galra would recognize on sight. He traced his metal claw down the prince’s neck and pressed against the bruise.

“So,” he purred, watching the Altean’s face once again drain of its color, “that’s how you convinced the halfbreed to help you escape. You had him mate you.” He dug his claw just deep enough to break the skin. “You knew exactly what you were doing, didn’t you Altean,” he said. “You knew he wouldn’t be able to resist his mate. Did you leave him to die after you escaped?”

The prince said nothing.

“Disgusting,” Sendak cursed. “Your promiscuous race was a blot on the universe. I bet you don’t even know the meaning of loyalty.”

The Altean remained silent.

Sendak huffed and clamped his metal hand around the prince’s body, hauling him up. “You disgust me,” he said. “But the emperor wants you alive, so I shall deliver you to him alive. But if you think you’ll be in one piece when you finally leave my care, you’re gravely mistaken.”

Silence answered him, but Sendak didn’t care. He carried the Altean to the bridge. He had more important things to deal with than a member of an extinct race who should’ve stayed dead.


	9. Magma Beneath the Surface

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Hunk dreams of freedom and goddesses, Pidge play hide-and-seek with Galra sentries, Allura discovers she has a few secret weapons, and Sendak offers some encouragement.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **A/N:** ♪♪ ^_^ ♪♪

Hunk stood by their pod and waited anxiously for the elder’s answer while Coran clattered about inside doing who knows what. It had been a nerve-wracking few minutes and Hunk couldn’t help but worry about Lance and the others. They were out of range of their communicators. He knew; he’d tried to contact the Castle as soon as he dared. All he could do now was stand and wait.

He looked up when footsteps approached but was somewhat disappointed to see Shay and not the elder. Still, he offered her a friendly smile. “Hey,” he said. “What’re you up to?”

She looked at Hunk oddly. “I am not up on anything,” she said.

Hunk blinked then laughed. “No, no, it’s just a phrase,” he said, waving away her confusion. “Don’t worry about it. What do you need?”

“Nothing,” she said, coming up to him softly. “The elder has yet to make her decision regarding these ones. I am sorry.”

Hunk’s smile softened. “Hey, it’ll be okay,” he said. “It’s not your fault. I get it. It’s a serious thing.” He looked down at the ground, thinking of his friends, his family, and the disheartening sounds of the Balmera’s moaning. “I’m sorry we’re causing so much trouble for you.”

“Do not be,” Shay said. She brushed her toes through the dirt nervously before speaking again. “Tell me of the sky. What is it like?”

“The sky?” Hunk asked, looking up at the Balmeran’s glowing yellow eyes. “Haven’t you seen it before?”

Shay looked away. “No,” she admitted. “But sometimes at night, I sneak up the tunnels as high as I dare and imagine what it is like.” She hopped up onto the pod, using her tail for balance as she went before perching on the roof and gazing out to the main mining hole beyond the tunnel. “Tell me?” she asked again.

Hunk smiled and leaned back against the cool metal, crossing his arms behind him and resting his head on them. “I don’t know much about this place,” he said, “but where I’m from, the sky is this bright, vibrant blue. It’s hot and humid and breezy. The clouds are white except for when there’s a storm or something. Then they're gray, some darker than others.” He sighed.

“The beaches are hot and sandy and the water’s freezing and perfect for surfing,” he said. “There’re volcanoes there too. This one near my home is called Kilauea. It’s where Tutu Pele lives.”

“Tutu Pele?” Shay asked, tilting her head down to the yellow paladin’s curiously.

“Yeah,” Hunk said. He noticed Shay’s look and blushed, looking away. “I know it may seem a bit childish to some people, but I do believe in her,” he said softly. “I’m a scientist so I understand what makes a volcano works, what goes on inside it and all that. But I just…” He shrugged. “I can’t let go of this nagging feeling that she’s there watching over me and my family. That’s enough to make me believe.” He smiled. “She’s not the most gentle of goddesses and she's got quite a temper, but she protects my family and that’s all I care about.”

“This Tutu Pele,” Shay asked, pronouncing the goddess’s oddly to Hunk’s amusement, “she has a temper?”

“Oh yeah,” Hunk said, laughing. “She throws temper tantrums sometimes which result in eruptions from Kilauea. These eruptions can be destructive, but they’re not always bad.” He lifted his head back up to Shay and smiled. “My family and I used to leave offerings for her to keep her temper under control. It didn’t always work, but it meant something to me.”

Shay smiled and looked back at the tunnel’s entrance the tantalizing light shining through it faintly from far above. “I do not know what ‘Tutu Pele’ is,” she said slowly, “or ‘volcano’ or ‘beach’ or…” She ran a thick finger over the pod’s metal surface. “I do not know most of what you speak of,” she admitted. “But I hope to see them one day.”

“You will,” Hunk said. “One day, after this war is over and you’re free, I’ll come back here and take you to Earth and show you Kilauea and the beach and maybe I’ll teach you how to surf.”

“I would like that,” Shay said with a smile. “This ‘free’ you speak of so fondly, what is it?”

Hunk turned around so he faced Shay and really looked at her. “You really don’t know?” he asked softly. The Balmeran shook her head and Hunk sighed. “Free means you can do what you want, go where you want, be what you want, and live your life without the Galra Empire controlling everything like slave drivers.”

Shay’s eyes grew wide with wonder. “But this makes no sense,” she said. “Zarkon controls everything.”

“He doesn’t control my world, remember,” Hunk said, smiling broadly.

“N-no,” Shay said in dawning realization. “He does not.”

“See, I’m part of this group that’s fighting against Zarkon,” Hunk said excitedly. “We’re all from different places, and times,” he added wryly, “and we all have different cultures and languages and everything. But we work together to free this universe of Zarkon with this super-not-so-secret weapon called Voltron.”

“Voltron?” Shay said, eyeing Hunk doubtfully. “That is an Altean tale.”

Hunk snorted. “Well yeah,” he said. “The Alteans built the thing, so I’m not surprised it’s an Altean tale.”

Shay smiled at Hunk in what the yellow paladin suspected was sympathy. “Oh child,” she said. “Swept up in dreams. An Altean tale is an Altean tale. It is nothing but a dream.”

“Um, I’m not sure if I know what you mean,” Hunk said. “Altean tale. What, does that mean 'fairy tale' or something?”

“Fairy?” Shay parroted the unfamiliar word in confusion.

Hunk shook his head. “Nevermind. Look, it’s real. Voltron's real. The Alteans built Voltron and some of them are still alive now. We’re working with them to fight Zarkon. Coran’s actually an Altean and so are the prince and princess.”

“The prince… You mean the friend you wish to save?”

“Yeah,” Hunk said seriously. “Him. He and his sister and Coran are probably the last of their race. But the prince and I are both paladins of Voltron and Voltron is going to defeat Zarkon.”

“Be silent, Big One,” Rax shouted, stepping out from the shadows. “Your shadow shows are nothing but empty Altean tales. Stop filling this one’s head with your dreams. The cavern is our home. This will never change. Shay, come.”

Shay’s shoulders drooped and Hunk felt his heart ache as he watched her follow her brother. He swore then and there that he would do his best to make sure Shay and her family experienced freedom. He would. No one deserved to live like this. It was unforgivable.

* * *

 

 _“Pidge!”_ Allura cried.

Pidge ignored the princess’s calls, more interested in dodging the sentry’s attacks than anything else. This was the third time he’d been cornered and attacked. The Galra must have hacked into the communications. He cursed. He knew this would happen. It was only a matter of time, really. Time he’d run out of.

“Can’t talk now,” he said. “Getting shot at.”

He parried another blast of purple energy from a sentry’s gun and ducked another. Rover beeped and knocked into him from the left, throwing him to the floor of the catwalk seconds before another purple blast streaked through the air he’d just occupied. Pidge gripped his bayard and scanned the particle barrier generator room for a way out. A Galra drone stood in the doorway on either side of the catwalk, blocking both of his exits. There was one more exit, through the vent. There was just one catch.

The vent was about two stories above his head in the wall.

There were no stairs or ladders or anything Pidge could use to aid him. He just had himself, his armor, his bayard, and Rover. Granted, Rover was proving to be the best companion right now. Pidge looked up and yanked Rover down with him, protecting it from enemy fire. A third Galra sentry was approaching Pidge’s position, now that he had no apparent place to run.

Pidge glanced at the control panel for the generator in frustration. It was just out of his reach. It was maddening. He couldn’t get close enough to deactivate the generator, even from a distance. There simply was no cover to hide behind. He couldn’t attack, defend, and deactivate the generator all at the same time. He’d be dead.

He had no choice. He had to get to the air vent.

“Rover,” Pidge said, nodding to the vent opening, “get to the vent. I’ll be right behind you.”

Rover flashed and flew up to the vent, hovering by the entrance waiting for Pidge to join it before entering. It was a stroke of luck that there was no covering for this vent that Pidge would have to pull off. Instead, the green paladin swung his bayard so the buzzing blaze detached and flew through the air, wedging itself in the wall by the vent. He ran to the catwalk railing, climbed up, and jumped, willing his bayard to reel in the glowing cord connecting the blade with the handle to haul him up to the vent.

It worked. Pidge felt himself rise through the air, bracing his feet on the metal walls. The moment he reached the vent, he yanked his blade free and crawled inside, Rover following close behind him. Sparks flew from the places the Galra energy blasts struck, leaving dark scorch marks behind. Pidge scrambled down the vent tunnel to the nearest junction and crawled up then turned right at the next junction and waited.

There was just silence and the sound of his breathing. The sentries hadn’t followed him into the vents this time. That was his second attempt to get to the generator. The first time he hadn’t made it near the control panel before taking fire. The sentries had all come from the same direction, so that made defending a bit easier. But three against one isn’t exactly fair odds. It was like fighting against three gladiators in the training arena at once. Shiro could manage it, but Pidge couldn’t.

He’d escaped into the nearest vent tunnel in the hallway. Unfortunately, two sentries followed him. He’d dispatched the first easily, knocking down one of the downward vents in a free fall that resulted in a satisfying explosion. The second sentry had given chase with surprising intelligence for a robot. It had taken Pidge and Rover a good while to reduce that particular sentry to sparking, twitching trash.

Then he’d been hopelessly lost in the vents, and needed Allura’s calm reassurance and guidance to get back to the generator room. He’d waited an hour, hoping the sentries would have moved on or at least relaxed their guard a bit before making his second attempt. No luck. The sentries had waited until Pidge was completely on the catwalk with no cover before firing.

“Sorry, Katie,” he said into his communicator. “I can’t get to the generator. It’s too well guarded.”

 _“It’s okay,”_ Allura said. She sounded disappointed, but understanding.

 _“Don’t worry about it,”_ Shiro said. _"_ _You did what you could. We need you alive first and foremost.”_

Pidge slumped back against the tunnel wall in defeat. “Yeah,” he grumbled. Rover beeped and settled on Pidge’s knees, staring at him. “Rover had a few close calls,” he said. “But we’re both fine otherwise.” He shook his head and sighed. “Sorry.”

With his head resting against the vent tunnel, he could feel the vibrations and sounds of the Castle better than in the hallways. He could see why the Alteans used to crawl around in here. It was basically the ultimate tunnel maze, when he wasn’t being shot at that is. Lance and Allura could run around in here avoiding their duties and babysitters, pulling pranks, and generally causing mayhem all day and all night without getting caught.

It was also a great place to just sit and think. If they got out of this, then Pidge would probably start using the vents as his quiet time place. He closed his eyes and tilted his head back.

 _“Don’t be,”_ Allura said gently. _“It’s not your fault. You’re trying. That’s all that matters. I’m just sorry you got caught up in this.”_

Air ruffled Pidge's hair, like the friendly gesture his brother Matt used to do. It was comforting and reminded Pidge of home. The breezes that blew through the big city, twirling leaves and dirt into the corners of buildings. The rumble of traffic, voices, music, and the air itself. The city pulsed with life all day and all night. Well, most of the night. It wasn’t the City That Never Sleeps, but it was the Big Peach and it was everything Pidge lived for.

Wait. That breeze was real. So was the rumble and the pulsing. They weren’t in Pidge’s memory, they were in the here and now. The Castle’s power output was increasing again. But that meant…

_Shit!_

Pidge lifted his arm and activated the digital display on his left arm plate. A holographic image projected above his forearm, showing the vent tunnel system as far as he knew. He’d taken the opportunity to map out the tunnel as he went just in case he needed it.

“A- Katie,” he said urgently, staring at his holographic map. “Is anything happening out there?”

 _“No, why?”_ the princess answered. _“Wait. No! The Castle’s engines. They’re regaining their power.”_

 _“What?”_ Keith cried.

“That’s what I thought,” Pidge muttered. “I think our borrowed time is up.”

 _“Don’t worry about that right now,”_ Shiro said. _“Can you get back to the engine room?”_

“Yeah,” Pidge said, after studying the vent map. “Two lefts, a right, down three, and left three.”

 _“What does that mean?”_ Keith asked. His voice still sounded strained, but he hadn’t had another freak out for a couple hours or so. Pidge was hoping that meant Lance was okay. Couldn't worry about that right now.

“Nothing,” the green paladin said. “I’m heading back down to the engine room. I’ll call you when I can.”

* * *

 

“Understood,” Allura said. “Stay safe.”

_“I’ll try.”_

Then the comms went silent. Allura bit her lip worriedly and looked at the purple particle barrier a span or two from where she sat on the ledge under the bridge. She’d lost track of how long she had been hiding here with Shiro and Keith, but she figured it was close to several tocks. They’d taken turns keeping watch so the others could relieve themselves, but she could feel her stomach grumble from hunger and her throat felt dry.

Also, the sun had risen on Arus. It was day now which meant they wouldn’t have the cover of night to protect them from the Castle’s visual scanners. They were running out of time and they all knew it.

Keith had curled up on the ledge opposite Allura and glared at the dark purple barrier that extended down from the bridge to the ground far below preventing him from reaching his mate. He had an outburst a while ago during the predawn tocks, and it had taken both Shiro and Allura to keep him from climbing over the bridge's side and throwing himself against the barrier. Something must have happened to Lance; but whatever it was, it hadn’t killed him. That was a blessing, at least.

If… _When_ they got through this, Allura would be more lax with Keith and Lance in the future. She’d still have her mice keep an eye on them, but she wouldn’t deliberately keep them apart anymore. Her mice.

“Quiznak,” she gasped.

“Princess?”

Allura held up a finger over Shiro’s lips and squeezed her eyes shut. “Don’t talk,” she said. “Give me a teck. I’m going to try something.”

Shiro obediently fell silent, but Allura could feel his eyes on her. It was distracting. She deliberately took a deep breath through her nose and released it through her mouth, counting to ten, and focused her mind on her mice.

 _:Friends,:_ she called as clearly as she could. _:I need your help. Can you hear me?:_

For several ticks, she received no response. Then something soft and fuzzy brushed her mind. She felt her lips twitch up in a smile.

 _:Friends,:_ she said, focusing on her words and emotions, doing her best to communicate them clearly. _:I need you to go to the particle barrier generator and deactivate it. Can you do that for me?:_

A whisper of fluff brushed her mind in a pattern she’d learned meant ‘yes’ and her smile grew. She pressed her consciousness towards her mice, following them as closely as he could. She could see through their eyes, hear through their ears. It would take a few tecks for them to get to the barrier generator. Hopefully, they wouldn’t meet the same resistance as Pidge had because of their size. It would be even better off they went unnoticed entirely. She couldn’t bear it if she lost one of them.

* * *

 

“Powering sub panels,” Haxus said aloud, voicing his actions for his commander.

 _“Sub panel energy transducer is go,”_ Sendak said over the speakers.

Haxus ran a check on the connection and saw it was working as it should. “Aye sir,” he said. “Opening a pathway to link with the bridge.” He slid his fingers across the view screen pulling up another set of readouts. “Initializing main cluster reboot.”

He waited until the indicators flashed in their ready position. “Initializing complete,” he said. “I’m set for main engine power up.”

 _"Understood,”_ his commander said. _“The bridge is go.”_

“Powering up,” Haxus said, activating the command.

Now he just had to wait and the main engine would be restored to full power. He watched the power indicators rise as the power increased and the turbine grew larger and brighter in front of him. He only noticed something wrong when, instead of settling at the usual safe limits of the system, the power bars continued to rise. He had two ticks to comprehend the situation before a red warning flash across the view screen.

“Sir,” he said. “Something is wrong.”

_“What is it?”_

He never got a chance to answer. The main turbine began spooling up well beyond the safety limits, before bursting outward, expelling the extra built up energy into the surrounding area. Unfortunately, that meant the catwalk and everything on it received a significant electrical shock. The charge raged through Haxus’ body ripping a pained scream from him as he fell to his knees, stunned.

When he sat up, there was someone else standing in front of him. They were short and wore green and white Altean armor. The Galran hoverbot Haxus floated by the person's shoulder. It was the same type of hoverbot Haxus had used to create a clone program to carry the bomb into the Castle in the first place. He could barely believe his eyes. This person had rewritten a Galra hoverbot's program and been causing Haxus and his commander so much trouble?

“You’re the one behind all of this?” he growled angrily. “A mere child?”

“I’m not a child,” the short person said. “I’m a paladin of Voltron.”

No wonder this ‘paladin’ had stayed hidden in the vents, Haxus thought in disgust. Had Haxus or Commander Sendak seen him, they would have known how pathetically weak their enemy truly was. Haxus laughed.

“Then tell me, _child,”_ he purred, “I am a soldier of the Galra Empire, second to Commander Sendak, and servant to Emperor Zarkon. I stop for nothing except triumph or death. How fast will your death be, I wonder?”

* * *

 

“Haxus,” Sendak called. “Report in, Haxus. What was that just now?”

“He’s probably sleeping on the job,” an increasingly annoying voice said from behind Sendak. He refused to look at the Altean prisoner or acknowledge him in any way. “Your lovely voice just put him to sleep.”

Sendak felt his ear twitch. He should have gagged the prince when he'd had the chance. Doing so now would admit the prisoner’s words were getting to him. That would mean submitting which he would not do. Not to a pathetic brat like the Altean.

“Hm? Did I put you to sleep?” the prince’s voice came again. “Aw, your compliments are making me blush. I don’t know if I’ll ever recover.”

His ear twitched again. This boy… Did he ever shut up?

Haxus had still not responded. It could be nothing. But then again if the saboteur was involved, it could be something significant. The saboteur had shown himself to be efficient and, since he kept to the vents, there was no real way of getting rid of him without physically killing him. Be that as it may, if the saboteur was responsible for his second’s lack of response, Sendak knew Haxus would deal with the problem quickly and efficiently. Haxus had never failed him before and was unlikely to start now.

Then again, Sendak doubted a little encouragement would be amiss. Even the enemy needed some encouragement from time to time. He smiled and turned to the prince.

“Indeed?” he said. “Forgive me, my mind was elsewhere.”

The Altean prisoner sat on the floor propped up by the central platform Sendak now occupied. He was close enough to keep an eye on but far enough away to not impede Sendak’s movements. Although, looking at the boy now, he was impressed by the fact the Altean was still conscious, let alone forming words in coherent sentences.

Since they arrived at the bridge, the prince had remained mostly silent, probably drifting in and out of consciousness. Now, however, his blue eyes were wide open and focused solely on the commander. Sendak took one step closer and was pleased to see the subtle twitch giving away the brat’s desire to flee. Despite this, the prince mustered a shaky smile.

“Really?” he said. “It’s rude to ignore your guests, you know.”

“I suppose so,” Sendak purred. “It would appear another guest has paid a visit to a mutual friend. Perhaps you would like to offer some encouragement to help spur our friend on.”

“Encouragement?” the prince repeated. It was a testament to the boy’s will that his voice stayed steady despite the growing fear manifesting in his deep blue eyes. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“No? Then let me show you.”

Lance inched back. “I’d rather not.”

“Oh, that wasn’t a choice,” the Galra commander said, cupping his mechanical left hand around the boy’s head and neck, halting the prisoner's movement. He placed the metal claw that served as his thumb directly on the Altean's right eye scale and smiled.

* * *

 

Outside, Keith screamed.


	10. Wintry Silence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Keith is on the verge of a breakdown, Allura hears something horrible, Hunk hears something incredible, and Sendak enjoys the silence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **A/N:** Not too big of a cliffhanger here. I decided to save that one for tomorrow's chapter. ^_^ Seeing as it's midnight now, I'm crashing and will edit this seriously tomorrow. Night~

When he attacked, Pidge was ready. He dodged the first sweeping strike of the humming purple blade, then the second. The third required a roll to avoid but it gave him to opportunity to throw his bayard blade. Unfortunately for Pidge, the Galra soldier was faster.

The Galra dodged the green blade and tangled the glowing green cord that connected it to the paladin’s bayard around his sword. Before Pidge could react, the Galra gripped the cord and swung with all his strength, tossing Pidge to the other side of the catwalk. Pidge landed hard, knocking the wind out of him, and slid across the metal. Thankfully, his back hit the control panel, preventing him from sliding right off the catwalk into the primary turbine resulting in what Pidge knew would be a rather painful death.

Pidge grunted and pushed himself up to all fours just as laughter reached his ears. He turned his head and saw the Galra step on his bayard’s green cord and allow the cord still coiled around the purple blade to slide off.

“Nowhere left to run,” the Galra said. “Nowhere left to hide.”

He lifted his blade and Pidge lifted his bayard handle, ready to block when-

_“Indeed? Forgive me, my mind was elsewhere.”_

What? Pidge blinked, startled by the unexpected voice.

“Commander?” the Galra said, pausing his attack.

_“Really? It’s rude to ignore your guests, you know.”_

“Lance!” Pidge cried, sitting up in surprise.

The Galra hesitated, but so did Pidge. Neither of them wanted to make a move, too confused by the voices speaking over the Castle’s speakers.

_“I suppose so.”_

That must be this Galra soldier’s commander. But why was he talking to Lance? Or rather, why was Lance talking to him?

 _“It would appear another guest has paid a visit to a mutual friend,”_  the Galra continued. _“Perhaps you would like to offer some encouragement to help spur our friend on.”_

“No. Lance!” Pidge cried, sitting up straight. “Don’t do it. Whatever he wants you to do, don’t do it. I’m fine. Do you hear me, you stupid alien? I’m fine.”

_“Encouragement?”_

Was it just Pidge’s imagination running wild, or did the humor in Lance’s voice sound a bit forced?

_“I don’t know what you mean.”_

There. Pidge was certain he heard a waver in the prince’s voice.

 _“No? Then let me show you.”_ The Galra’s voice was deep and smooth. He sounded perfectly at ease with whatever was happening. What _was_ happening?

_“I’d rather not.”_

The prince’s voice was definitely wavering now. Whatever was happening, he wasn’t liking it. Pidge didn’t either.

“What’s going on?” Pidge demanded the Galra in front of him. “What’s happening to Lance? Tell me!”

The Galra soldier merely smiled.

_“Oh, that wasn’t a choice.”_

The scream that followed sounded anything but human. Pidge wouldn’t forget it for as long as he lived.

* * *

 

When Keith screamed, it broke Allura’s concentration snapping her back to her own body with such force she wobbled on the ledge beneath the bridge. When she recognized the sound for what it was, her heart dropped. Something was happening to Lance and whatever it was, it was powerful enough to affect Keith through their link.

Shiro attempted to jump across the expanse separating him and Allura from Keith, but the distraught red paladin jumped. Allura saw him jump, but she didn’t scream right away. Her horrified gaze followed the red paladin down through the air below then sideway accompanied by a blast of light and hot air.

“Keith!” Shiro shouted, dropping to his hands and knees by the edge, staring at the ground far below.

Keith must have used his jet pack. The paladin’s jet packs were designed for space but could be used in an atmosphere. They simply lacked the precision needed for sharp turns and sudden, dramatic changes in speed. They provided enough force to stop a paladin’s fall as Keith’s had just done successfully, but they weren’t designed to handle a paladin’s full weight in the air for extended periods of time.

Allura could hear the sound of something striking the Galran particle barrier around the Castle and would wager Keith was trying to take the thing down by sheer force alone. It wouldn’t work. The attacks from Keith’s bayard sword were nothing to a fully powered particle barrier. It could take weeks for Keith’s attacks to whittle the power down enough to make an impact.

“Shiro,” she said, snatching the black paladin’s attention. Shiro’s brown eyes were wide and stunned but quickly focused on the princess. “Use your jet pack and take me up to the top of the bridge.”

Shiro blinked in surprise. “Jet pack?” He reached behind him and felt his back for any sign of the device. “I have a jet pack?”

Allura nodded. “Yes. It’s not optimized for non-space travel but it should work well enough to get us up there. You can activate it by choosing that option on the readout on your left armpad.”

Shiro stood and tapped his left arm, studying the holographic readout that appeared over his forearm. He couldn’t read the Altean letters flashing across the screen, but he got the gist of what he was looking at from the pictures. He moved to select the one that resembled a jet pack when Allura stepped up to him and wrapped her arms around his neck.

“Wha- Your highness?” Shiro cried, holding up his hands and leaning back in an attempt to put distance between himself and the princess currently clinging to him. “What are you doing?”

“My flight suit doesn’t have a jet pack,” she said calmly, ignoring her paladin’s obvious discomfort. “You’ll need to carry me up there.”

“Carry…you?”

“We don’t have time for this,” she snapped, noticing the way Shiro’s body stiffened. “Get us up there before Keith works himself to exhaustion.”

“R-right. Sorry about this,” he said, wrapping his arms around Allura’s body, pulling her tightly to his own.

“Jump before you activate it,” she said. “Otherwise, you’ll shoot us both into the rock above us.”

“Oh.” She felt Shiro look down and take a deep breath. “Okay,” he said. “You ready?”

She nodded.

“Alright. Hold on.”

He waited for Allura to acknowledge him with a nod before stepping out over the open air and allowing himself to fall. The princess instinctively tightened her grip on Shiro’s body and tried not to squeeze her eyes shut as they fell. She couldn’t see him tap the jet pack choice from the holographic readout, but she heard the tell-tale beep and felt both of their bodies jerk abruptly when the jet pack came online.

It had enough energy to slow their descent and after a couple false starts, Shiro figured out leaning guided the device. He leaned to the left and Allura felt the jet pack push them to the left and up over the bridge’s side. She turned her head to face the Castle as they slowly came back down to land on the stone surface of the bridge. Keith stood in front of the particle barrier with his bayard sword drawn and clasped in both hands. He leapt at the barrier, slashing it with all his might, screaming Lance’s name as he did so. It was painful to watch.

When she was close enough to the bridge’s surface the land safely, she let go of Shiro’s neck and dropped the final few spans. She landed in a crouch, absorbing the shock as best she could, and ran to the red paladin’s side.

“Keith,” she shouted. “Keith stop. Stop!”

She grabbed the halfbreed’s left arm and leaned forward, putting her weight onto the paladin’s arm effectively preventing him from lifting his bayard with that hand. Keith tried to shake her off, but she dug her right elbow into his chest and held fast.

“This is pointless, Keith,” she said. “You won’t get the barrier to lower like this.”

“Shut up,” Keith cried furiously. “Shut up, shut up, shut _up!”_

He let go of his sword with his left hand and tried to shake the princess off of him. He adjusted his grip on his bayard sword using his right hand and continued his useless assault on the maddening purple barrier.

“Keith!” Shiro shouted, wrapping his arms around the red paladin’s body. He couldn’t get Keith’s right arm, but he managed to get the left arm, squeezing it to Keith’s body. “Keith, I know you’re upset but you have to stop. You’ll just hurt yourself.”

“Keith, listen to me,” Allura said.

“Shut up,” Keith cried, shaking his head and fighting Shiro’s hold to continue slashing at the barrier. “Lance!”

Allura grit her teeth furiously. _“Enough!”_

Keith hesitated at her command and turned his frenzied gaze to hers, waiting for another command.

“I’m close to powering down the particle barrier,” Allura said, startling both of her companions. “Give me a few more tecks and it should be down. Save your strength for the Galra behind this. You can actually do some damage to them. Don’t tire yourself out before you get the chance to rip them to shreds.”

Keith reluctantly lowered his blade obediently, but his body continued to shake with pent-up energy. He bowed his head but his ears remained erect and his breathing did not ease. Allura sympathized with his pain, but this was important. If Keith- If _any_ of them had any hope of getting through this and finding Lance alive, then they needed to all be at their best. Anything less and the princess suspected they wouldn’t live to regret it.

She closed her eyes and focused all of her thoughts and energy on regaining her connection to her mice. It took a few ticks but soon Allura was looking up through the eyes of her mice. They were in a small vent tunnel that was much too small for Pidge to fit through. They could see one of the doorways to the generator room from their low vantage point. It was across the room on the other side of the catwalk which meant the other door was in the wall next to the small vent.

The beams of energy glowed purple, filling the generator room with its eerie, unwelcoming light. A strange sound filled her mice’s ears but it was hard to make out clearly over the loud hum of the generator. The sentry who stood by the door nearest the small vent paid the mice no mind. If he saw them at all in the dim light or heard them over the noise, it most likely dismissed them as a threat. Good.

Allura encouraged the mice to run across the catwalk to the control panel, following their progress closely. They climbed up the panel’s support column and peered over the side at the panel on top. The big green mouse bravely climbed over first and stared at the readouts on the screen.

Allura studied the readouts through her companion’s eyes and nudged the green mouse towards a series of flashing symbols on the left. With her gentle encouragement, the mouse pressed its tiny paw on the symbols she indicated. A visualization of the Castle of Lions appeared on the panel’s view screen showing the particle barrier power down. Her mice cheered and so did she until the now inoperative generator’s hum faded and she could hear the other sound more clearly.

It was a scream.

The sound threw her from her mice’s minds. Her sight returned to her body and she realized she had fallen to her knees sometime during her stay in her mice’s eyes. She was certain she knew exactly when her balance had given way.

“Princess,” Shiro’s voice called. “Princess, are you alright?”

Allura pressed her hand to her mouth as her sight blurred from tears. That scream… That sounded like…

“Lance,” she breathed.

Movement caught her attention and she looked up in time to see the Galran particle barrier turn off. Keith wasted no time adjusting his sword in his right hand and running into the Castle at full speed. Allura bit back her pain and leapt up to follow her paladin with Shiro at her heels. The moment they entered the Castle proper, that sound filled her ears.

“What is that?” Shiro asked, stunned.

“Lance,” Allura said, pushing herself to go faster. “It’s Lance.”

“My god.”

Allura steeled herself, fully prepared to listen to her brother’s screams the whole way to the bridge if she had to. For this reason and this reason only, she skidded to a stop when Lance suddenly fell silent.

* * *

 

Hunk could barely believe what he was hearing.

“These ones will take you as far as the crystal, but no further,” the elder said from her place by the fire. “You claim you will perform the energy exchange when you return. Is this not so?”

Coran nodded. “You have my word,” he swore, kneeling on one knee and touching his forehead, his mouth, and his heart with the fingers of his right hand.

The elder’s eyes widened, the gold gleaming in the firelight. “Then consider this an act of trust,” she said. “If you return and complete the exchange within a single turn as the ancient ones once did, then these ones,” she gestured to the Balmerans around her, “shall offer you aid in your endeavors. However,” she warned, “if you do not return within the time given to you by these ones, then you will not find us as allies.”

“We understand and accept your most gracious offer, elder,” Coran said, standing. “Lead the way.”

“I will not be going and neither shall these ones,” Rax said, standing from his place by the fire. He turned to the Balmeran elder and said angrily, “We have family. We are together now. The Galra would tear this family asunder if they learned we offered aid to these skylings. I will not be a part of such an act.”

“I will,” Shay said.

“Shay,” Rax breathed in betrayal.

“I told you once, brother. I cannot turn my back on the skylings,” she said, gazing at her brother sadly. “This one’s words touched my heart,” she said, gesturing to the yellow paladin. “I wish for all of Balmera to have this freedom this one speaks of, and I believe these one’s Voltron can make it so.”

“Voltron?” the elder asked.

“An Altean tale and nothing more,” Rax said. “Why must you allow these skylings to fill your ears with their shadow shows?”

“You speak of one Voltron,” the elder said, interrupting the young Balmerans’ burgeoning argument. “Where did you hear of such a name?”

“I’m a paladin of Voltron,” Hunk said, finally finding the courage to speak up. “I pilot the Yellow Lion.”

The elder’s eyes stared unblinkingly at Hunk saying nothing. After a moment she turned her gaze to Coran and nodded. “I know what you are now, skyling,” she said gravely. “There are those who still remember your people.”

Coran’s shoulders slumped and his expression fell. “I see,” he said.

“Your oath has more weight now,” the elder said. “This one shall guide you,” she gestured to Shay, “to the crystal. If you are who I believe you to be, then the crystal shall come free for you. This one shall take the crystal to your ship but then you shall be on your own. We cannot and will not protect you. Fulfilling your oath shall decide whether you deserve our aid.”

Coran bowed, this time at the waist. “Let it be as you say,” he intoned.

Hunk shook his head in disbelief and had to scurry to catch up with Shay and Coran. He followed them through the winding tunnels of the Balmera with no light save that from his paladin armor and, surprisingly, from Coran’s clothes. Who knew.

“This is it,” Shay said, stopping. She pointed to something that sparkled dimly in the corner of the cavern.  “The crystal you seek is there. I must stay here as the elder wished.” She turned her gaze to Hunk and smiled. “I pray your actions be as the elder believes.”

“They will be,” Hunk said returning Shay’s smile. “I promise.”

“Well,” Coran said, cracking his knuckles, “let’s do this.”

He walked across the dark room to a huge crystal embedded in the Balmera’s body with Hunk at his side. The yellow paladin studied the crystal closely. There was no way they could dig the thing out; it was too deep in the ground. Not to mention the fact the crystal probably weighed twice as much as Hunk did on a bad day.

“Halt.”

Hunk spun around in time to see two Galra sentries race across the cavern towards him. He didn’t think. He just drew his bayard, activated it, and fired. The sentries fell to the bright yellow energy blasts from his huge bayard gun easily.

“Okay,” he said. “That’s two down. Anymore to go?”

Shay didn’t speak, but he wasn’t exactly expecting her to. It wasn’t her job to get involved. The last thing he wanted was for Shay to die before she could even get a taste of freedom. Hunk wouldn’t fail her after giving her something to hope for.

“I think we’re safe for the time being,” Coran said, standing from where he’d hidden behind Hunk.

He turned to the crystal and placed his hands on its surface. He closed his eyes and relaxed his mind and body opening himself to the Balmera. The crystal began to glow from within casting turquoise light across Coran and Hunk’s faces.

“Um, I don’t mean to push, but can you speed things up a bit maybe?” Hunk asked, hefting his gun and keeping a lookout for any more Galra.

“This isn’t something that can be rushed,” Coran admonished. “If I tried wrenching the crystal free, I’d be no better than a common Galra monster.” He sighed deeply. “The Balmera are sacred beings. If I want the crystal, then I have to ask it.”

“Oh,” Hunk said, lowering his weapon to gaze at the soft light. “How do you ask it? Is it like with the princess and her mice?”

Coran chuckled. “Sort of. But it’s deeper than that, more personal. By asking for this, I’m connecting my life force with the Balmera’s. If it agrees to give us the crystal, it’s acknowledging my oath to return and heal it in the exchange process.”

“That’s why the elder meant when she said a sign of trust,” Hunk said, beginning to understand. “She didn’t mean her trust. She meant the Balmera’s.”

Coran nodded. A moment later, the ground rumbled and both Coran and Hunk stepped away from the crystal. Hunk watched in amazement as the ground crumbled away from the crystal allowing it to tip to the side, waiting to be taken away. The Altean adviser smiled.

“It trusts me,” he whispered in awe.

“You say that like it was your first time getting one of these,” Hunk said wryly.

“It was.”

Hunk stared at Coran for a moment. “I’m not sure if I’m proud of you or if I should be yelling at you for getting us in danger,” he said.

“Both probably,” the adviser said with a wink.

He stood back when Shay approached them. Hunk turned to the Balmeran, stepping aside so she could take the crystal. “I am glad,” she said, lifting the crystal with ease. “Since the Balmera trusts you, then I hope you take this with our blessing. Heal you friend and return to us as you promised.”

“We will,” Hunk said.

* * *

 

Sendak gazed at the fallen prince in pleased silence. If he’d known the boy could scream like that, he would have done that sooner. As it was now, he could no longer strike the Altean without leaving another mark on him. However, considering the silence he now had, he could focus on getting this ship off this godforsaken rock.

He fiddled absently with his prize. The salve Sendak applied to the prince’s back had healed the more serious wounds so they no longer posed a threat to the prisoner’s life. It now covered the entire right half of the Altean’s face as well. It wasn’t much, but it would ensure the brat lived long enough to be delivered to Zarkon, even in this debilitated state.

Something flashed in the corner of his eye and he turned to the control panel. He tapped the flashing symbol and a video feed showed three people running down the Castle halls towards the bridge. How had they gotten inside? He checked the status of the particle barrier and hummed thoughtfully. The saboteur must have gotten to it. That must be what had distracted Haxus from his duty. A mild annoyance only.

“Well,” he said aloud. “It appears you and I will have more guests sooner than expected.”

He received no response except the silence and smiled, pleased.


	11. Cold as Death

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Hunk is hopeful, Pidge is furious, Keith is less than sane, and Sendak gets what's coming to him, at a price.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **A/N:** If y'all think I should up the rating or add some new tags/warnings for this fic based on the last scene, let me know and I'll do it. I've added some anyway. As usual, I'll edit this seriously tomorrow morning. I'm seriously tired right now. That said, good night my adorably optimistic readers.
> 
> Sweet dreams~

Everything had been going well so far so naturally that’s when everything stopped going well. Or, at least, that’s what Hunk thought when he rounded the corner of the tunnel with Shay and Coran. Over a dozen Galra sentries stood in front of Hunk and his friends, blocking the main tunnel back to their pod. Shay gave a cry of despair and dropped the crystal she held. For a moment, Hunk thought it was from seeing the Galra. But then he saw who was standing in front of the sentries: Rax.

“No,” Shay moaned. “Rax, why?”

The male Balmeran glared hard at Hunk and Coran. “These ones bring only pain and despair to our family,” he said. “I did this to save you from their Altean tales.”

“But this one,” Shay said, pointing to Coran, “is Altean.”

“And which one was it who told you this?” Rax demanded.

“It’s true,” Coran said, stepping forward so he stood in front of their little group. “Although I understand your doubt, doubt does not change the facts.”

“I told her,” Hunk said, placing a hand on Coran’s shoulder when the Galra sentries pointed their weapons at Coran. If someone was going to get shot at around here, it was going to be him. He was the one with a weapon to fight back and armor to protect him. He drew his bayard and activated it in preparation for the coming attack.

However, before any fire could be exchanged, Shay dropped to her knees and placed her hands on the ground. A soft glow like what filled the crystal when Coran ‘spoke’ to the Balmera appeared around her hand and the Balmera moaned. To the yellow paladin’s shock, large chunks of rock detached themselves from the earthen ceiling and fell to the ground, crushing the sentries where they stood. Rax alone remained unscathed.

“The elder will hear of this, brother,” Shay said, standing and taking the crystal back into her arms. “These ones have the Balmera’s blessing.”

“The Balmera cannot bless these ones,” Rax shot back, angry and frightened by his home’s rejection of his attempt to save his family. “Why would She offer aid to the skylings when they bring death and separation to our family?”

“It is not for us to know Her will,” Shay said. “We will understand when She is ready to tell us.”

Rax shook his head. “That is too long,” he cried.

“For you perhaps,” Shay said, turning her back on her brother to head for an alternate route. “But not for the Balmera.”

Without another word, Shay left her brother there alone on the ground. Hunk stood still feeling very much like an outsider during the siblings’ fight. He applauded Shay’s will to stand her ground, but he also felt sorry for her. It was never easy leaving loved ones to suffer the consequences when they made a mistake. Then again, this argument was tame compared to the one between Allura and Lance that he’d listened in on with Coran.

“I’m sorry you had to do that,” Hunk said.

Shay’s eyes saddened. “As am I,” she said softly, never slowing her pace. “If my brother has informed the Galra of your presence, then it will not be long before they find your ship. You must flee this place.”

She turned a corner and Hunk was surprised to find himself standing in front of the pod. They were closer than he thought they were. Either that or the Balmera was helping them. He looked up at the ceiling of the tunnel suspiciously. The Balmera was alive and, according to Shay and the Balmerans, female. Was it really so farfetched to consider the Balmera morphing the tunnels dug within Her body to aid Her people? Who knows. Maybe She moved her tunnels around to confuse the Galra when they used Her body as a mine.

Hunk hurried forward to help Shay place the crystal into the ship. Coran helped them with the crystal’s placement so its weight wouldn't unbalance the ship during flight. Hunk felt slightly guilty for not doing any of the heavy lifting like he was originally supposed to. It was considered polite to make a lady carry everything.

“Sorry,” he said, startling Shay, who stared at him curiously.

“Why do you apologize?” she asked.

The yellow paladin shuffled his feet awkwardly. “For, you know, making you carry the crystal all the way here on your own,” he scratched his head, “and making you defend us against the Galra, and just, you know, helping us in general. You didn’t have to.”

Shay smiled gently. “Worry not, Hunk,” she said. “I would not have helped you had I not wanted to. You have given me hope and promised to help heal my home.” She gripped the yellow paladin’s shoulders firmly. “That is more than I have received in many periods.”

Hunk blushed and rested one of his own hands on Shay’s. “I just wish I could make it up to you somehow,” he said. “My mother would have given me a serious talking-to for making you do all the work.”

Shay laughed. “You shall, Hunk,” she said. “Fulfill your promise to the Balmera and my people. Show us this freedom you speak of and I will consider the debt repaid in full.”

“You got it, Shay,” Hunk said chuckling. “Just one question.”

“Yes?”

“What’s a ‘turn’?”

“You do not have turns on your faraway world?” Shay asked, genuinely intrigued.

“A turn is generally considered the be approximately ten cycles,” Coran chirped, popping his head out of the pod. He was watching Hunk and Shay with a sparkle in his eyes that warmed the yellow paladin’s face. “It varies from planet to planet, but the general timescale for a turn in the universe is ten cycles.”

“So basically it’s a week,” Hunk said. “Yeah, weeks on Earth are seven days, er, cycles.”

“Seven?” Coran repeated. “Such an unusual number.”

“It has to do with myths and seven being a lucky number and all that, I think,” Hunk said, reluctantly stepping away from Shay’s grasp. “I’ve never actually thought about it before.”

Coran chortled. “Yes, well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I think we should be going.” His expression softened into genuine regret. “We have to make sure Lance and Allura are doing well. If we can get Lance healed and the Castle airborne, we can be back here in a few cycles.”

“Coran,” Hunk asked semi-seriously, “are you being optimistic?”

“Ridiculously so,” the adviser said with a cheeky grin.

The group laughed as Hunk finally climbed into the pod. He looked back over his shoulder to see Shay standing where he'd left her, watching him. There was a gleam in her eyes that hadn’t been there when he and Coran had arrived on Balmera. It took him a minute to recognize it for what it was. Hope.

Shay had hope.

He smiled and waved to her. “See you Tuesday,” he hollered over the roar of the pod’s engine as Coran took the controls and lifted off the ground.

Shay’s eyebrows pulled down at the unfamiliar word but she smiled and waved nevertheless. It warmed Hunk’s heart.

“What’s a Tuesday?” Coran asked as they flew out of the tunnel and out into the large mining hole.

Hunk couldn’t answer him right away because between holding on to his armrests for dear life and holding the contents of his stomach in his stomach required too much focus.

* * *

 

 

If the Galra expected Lance’s screams to demoralize Pidge, they were wrong. It infuriated Pidge and fueled his determination to win. The prince’s screams were still pouring from the Castle’s speakers when the green paladin struck.

He grit his teeth and glared at the Galra soldier standing on the glowing green cord connecting his bayard blade to his handle. Perfect. Pidge yanked his bayard's handle, jerking the cord out from the Galra’s foot knocking him off balance. Pidge used the opportunity to loop the cord around the Galra’s leg and pull.

The Galra shouted what was probably a curse and stumbled, struggling to regain his balance. Unfortunately for him, he ran out of room on the catwalk. Pidge dove to the left, swinging his right leg out as he went. That should have been the final blow. The Galra flailed balancing precariously on the razor edge of the catwalk. Pidge groaned at the Galra’s stubbornness.

“Why don’t you just die, you fucking bastard!” he yelled.

Rover sped past the green paladin’s shoulder, startling him, and slammed into the Galra’s face. The Galra's balance was completely thrown off and he fell backwards. However, before Rover could escape the Galra’s reach, it was caught by a flailing clawed hand. It beeped frantically.

“Rover!” Pidge cried.

No way. No way was he going to make it through this far and lose his friend now. No way in hell.

“Fuck you!” he shouted.

He slung his bayard with as much strength as he could muster. The buzzing, green blade flew through the air landing solidly in the Galra’s face. Instantly the purple bastard fell limp, his hand slipped from Rover’s metal body, and he fell. Pidge knelt by the edge and held out his arms for Rover to zip into. The moment the little robot was pressed against his chest, Pidge wrapped his arms around it and squeezed.

“They already took my family from me,” he said. “I’m not letting them take you too.”

Rover beeped loudly and flashed. No. Rover hadn’t beeped loudly. It had been a rather soft beep actually. So then why did…

Lance.

Pidge’s eyes grew round and he stared up at the ceiling where the speakers were. Lance had fallen silent. While Pidge didn’t want the prince to suffer, at least he knew Lance was alive as long as he was screaming. After all the noise, the sudden silence was oppressive and terrifying.

He’d make them pay. Pidge would make them all pay. The Galra had stolen from him and almost stole from him again. Like hell he was going to get away with that. Where would the bastard who spoke to Lance be hiding?

Pidge ran over the conversation he’d listened in on between the Galra soldier and his commander before the soldier tried to start the engine. What had the commander said? The bridge is go or something like that.

The bridge was a logical place to start looking. At the very least, Pidge could maybe play around with the technology on the bridge to make take-off a bit more difficult. Anything to make the Galra’s lives miserable. He clutched Rover and stood.

“Think you can get us back up to that vent, buddy?” he asked.

The hoverbot beeped proudly and flew up with Pidge still holding onto it. It caught the paladin off guard, but brought a smile to his face. With Rover by his side, he could do some serious damage.

“We make a good team, Rover,” he said climbing into the vent tunnel.

Rover beeped and did a little twirl before darting ahead of the green paladin, lighting the way.

* * *

 

 

When her brother’s screams suddenly cut off, Allura feared the worst. She looked at Keith, gauging his reaction to judge her brother’s condition. The red paladin was standing stock-still, eyes wide, and ears erect and facing forward. A tick later, the halfbreed’s ears folded back against Keith’s dark hair and he snarled, racing forward again. Allura quickly followed with Shiro by her side.

“Let’s hope the silence is a good thing,” Shiro murmured, voicing their worry aloud. “Pidge,” he said into his communicator, “we’re in the Castle. A- Katie got the particle barrier down. Where are you?”

 _“What?_ ” Pidge gasped. _“How did she do that from outside? Scratch that. How did she get past the sentries? Did you all get in?”_

“She used her mice,” Shiro said, cracking a smile. “Never thought the day would be saved by a bunch of mice.”

 _“I know. Talk about some Disney shit right there,_ ” Pidge said. _“I got rid of one of the Galra.”_

“What? Was it a sentry or-”

 _“It was a real one,”_ Pidge said. _“He didn’t have any fur like Keith. He looked almost reptilian. His commander’s got Lance. I think they’re on the bridge.”_

“That bastard,” Keith growled. “It’s Sendak.”

“Sendak?” Shiro and Allura gasped.

“You know him?” Allura asked Shiro in surprise.

Shiro’s face was grim as he spoke. “Yeah. It was his battlecruiser I escaped when I first went to Earth.”

Keith snorted. “Nice job.”

“Thanks.”

“Sendak was the one who punched my brother,” Allura said, her face dark with fury. “If I get there and Lance isn’t in perfect condition, I’ll rip his guts out.”

“That...” Shiro trailed off staring at the princess running next to him, oddly impressed.

 _“I really like her,”_ Pidge said.

“If there’s anything left of him when I’m done with him, you're welcome to it,” Keith said coldly.

 _“I’ll_ _meet you all at the bridge,”_ Pidge said. _“I’m getting close now so I have to stop talking. Maybe I can give one of my little upgrades to my armor a trial run.”_

“Understood,” Shiro said. “Good luck.”

* * *

 

Sendak watched his three guests running to the bridge on the video feed in amusement. For this reason, he wasn’t surprised to hear their footsteps in the hall behind him. Nor did the sight of their weapons intimidate him. The war cry issued by the red paladin, however, did catch him off guard.

“Impossible,” he muttered, staring at the fast approaching paladin in shock.

Ticks before the red paladin could bring down his sword on Sendak’s shoulder, the commander raised his mechanical left arm allowing it to take the hit. The ring of metal on metal was a sound any Galra appreciated. The thrill of the battle flooded Sendak’s veins, fueling his strength.

“So,” he said, parrying the red paladin’s attacks with ease. “The halfbreed lives.”

“Where is he?” Keithek shrieked, slamming his bayard sword down on Sendak’s well-armored left arm once more. “Where is he?!”

Before the commander could answer, he parried what could have been a fatal blow from the black paladin’s glowing purple hand. Well, well.

“Champion,” he said. “You escape my grasp only to return like a moth to a flame.”

“Go to hell,” the Champion cursed, striking at the commander once more.

“The Druid’s certainly made your weapon formidable. However,” Sendak slashed at the human viciously, “you didn’t get the latest upgrade.”

The Champion’s presence here was not something Sendak had anticipated. The Champion was well-known among the Galra for his viciousness in battle and his unbroken winning streak. Sendak, as well as other Galra, had expressed an interest in battling the Champion in hand-to-hand combat. No time like the present, he supposed.

But where was the third guest? Ah. There he was. _She_ , Sendak corrected himself after glimpsing the difference in build between this guest and the black and red paladins. The woman struck out with her legs, aiming low. Fortunately for her, she connected with Sendak’s knee. Unfortunately for her, Sendak’s Druid-enhanced arm was more than a toy. He willed his arm to extend, planting the metal claws in the floor of the bridge farther back, and hauled himself back to join it. It stopped his fall and give the chance to study his enemy before engaging them again.

“The Champion, a halfbreed, and a woman facing me together,” he jeered. “If you were Galra, I might actually be intimidated. However,” he crouched, ready to attack, “seeing as you’re not, you’re nothing but a nuisance.”

Movement and a flash of color caught Sendak’s attention, and he glanced to his right in time to see the green paladin race to the control platform. The saboteur froze when Sendak caught sight of him making himself a perfect target. The commander slung his huge arm at the green paladin. He was surprised when his hand met no resistance. The green paladin’s image fuzzed and vanished, infuriating the commander.

“A hologram?” he roared, spinning on his heel to look around the room for the saboteur. “Where are you, you obnoxious brat?”

“I’d pay more attention to _us_ if I were you,” the Champion snapped moments before Sendak was forced to dodge another attack.

“Where is he, Sendak?” the halfbreed demanded furiously. “Where is Lance?”

Sendak grinned, tilting his head back to avoid a kick from the woman’s powerful legs. “He’s here. He’s resting. The strain was a bit too much for him, I’m afraid,” he said with a smirk. “His berry-muncher blood was simply too weak to take a little play.”

“What did you do to Lance?” the woman demanded, lashing out with her fists. She was certainly fast, Sendak noticed.

“Ah, you must be ‘Katie’,” Sendak purred, blocking the Champion’s attack and kicking the halfbreed aside, knocking him to the ground. “You should be pleased to know the prince worried about you. He must care for you. More than he cares about his mate, it would seem,” he added, tossing a leer at the frenzied halfbreed.

Keithek roared and faked a slash down low, instead leaping up onto Sendak’s arm when the Galra commander fell for the trick. Sendak only had a moment to comprehend the red paladin’s new position before the halfbreed swung his bayard blade down into the purple energy connecting Sendak’s Druid-enhanced arm with his shoulder. The interrupted flow of energy severed the connection causing Sendak’s arm to fall uselessly to the floor.

“No!” he fumed. “You filthy halfbreed.”

Sendak grabbed the red paladin by the head when he landed back on the floor after severing the commander’s arm and threw him across the room. The solid thud and squeak of metal on metal as the halfbreed slid across the floor was gratifying to Sendak’s ears.

“You fraking son of a Magog,” the woman cursed angrily. “Where is he? Where is Lance? Quiznak you, where is my brother?”

Brother?

Startled, Sendak spun to the woman in shock. Brother? The prince was this woman’s brother? Then that would make her the princess. Which meant the prince had been a decoy this whole time.

“Impossible,” he murmured.

“Yeah,” a new voice said from behind Sendak. “About as impossible as you falling for my hologram trick, you motherfucker.”

He never got the chance to turn around before something struck his metal shoulder and electrocuted him. He roared in pain, collapsing to his knees as his body spasmed violently under the onslaught of the electric current. The next thing he saw was the Champion’s fist slamming into his face throwing him back to the floor. He slid back to the control platform in the center of the room eventually pushing himself back to his feet.

However, before he could launch a counterattack, a barrier of energy slammed into place around the platform, surrounding him and separating him from the paladins and the princess. He looked up and saw the princess herself standing at one of the control panels by the wall. She had been the one to imprison him.

“Guys!” Pidge said.

Sendak growled from his makeshift prison as the princess took charge.

“Shiro, contact Hunk and Coran,” the princess said, never taking her eyes off of Sendak for a moment. “Get ready to help them get rid of the Galra’s crystal and replace it with our own. Pidge-”

“Guys,” Pidge said again. “I think you need to see this. Keith found Lance.”

“Lance?” the princess gasped, tearing her gaze from Sendak to focus on the green paladin. “Where is he? Keith?”

Sendak felt his lips twitch up as too turned to where the saboteur sat on the floor. The paladin’s eyes were grim which just served to fuel his satisfaction. The Champion and the princess ran to the green paladin’s side.

The red paladin was there too, Sendak noticed in amusement. He must have thrown the halfbreed towards the prince without realizing it. He snorted. The sight must have struck the halfbreed silent. That explained why he hadn’t returned to the battle after Sendak threw him back.

Sendak watched as the princess gently rolled the prince’s still form over. Her broken cry was music to his ears. The halfbreed’s despairing keen was the sweetest honey on his lips. The black paladin’s horrified curse brought a smile to his face and the sound of the green paladin’s dry heaving pulled the laughter from his throat.

"Princess,” he called, pleased when she turned to him instantly. He pulled out his prize and held it out to her, knowing she could not take it so long as the particle barrier separated them. “Missing something?”

In his hand was a bloody white orb. It lay in his palm so a ring of dark blue around a black dot faced Sendak’s audience. The commander smiled and crushed the eyeball in his fist.

“NO!” Allura shrieked.

However, it wasn’t Allura who charged him. It was the halfbreed who stood and smashed his hand against the control panel lifting the particle barrier. The last thing Sendak saw was the red paladin’s crazed purple and gold gaze as the halfbreed plunged his bayard sword into Sendak’s unprotected chest.

Sendak smiled. He may have lost this skirmish, but he’d still won the battle. These children had no chance against Emperor Zarkon.

Vrepit sa.


	12. Frozen Over

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which everyone just tries to cope and no sleep is to be had.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **A/N:** I love how you all think Sendak is completely dead. If he was, how would my favorite arc/episode Crystal Venom happen? Also, I feel I should give y'all a hint of a few good things that are coming soon. In no particular order:
> 
> 1) New characters  
> 2) Lance's eye replacement (he's a sharpshooter, he needs both eyes)  
> 3) Klance fluff/smut  
> 4) Shallura fluff  
> 5) A good surprise  
> 6) More rough patches
> 
>  **FYI:** I listened to the song _I Want to Spend My Lifetime Loving You_ from the movie  Zorro: The Mask of Zorro on loop. Just in case anyone wants to know the mood I was in while writing this, listen to that song while reading this. Expect feels in this chapter, but nothing traumatizing. That said, I'm going to bed now. I'll edit this tomorrow. Night y'all. Stick around for more.

Even without his arm, Sendak was strong. Keithek instinctively knew the commander had him beat when it came to a battle of physical strength. But Keithek had long ago accepted that this was generally true for all Galra. He was just smaller and leaner-built than the majority of the Galra race. Even the females tended to be larger than he was. That was an insult to his alpha instincts. But it was a reality he had accepted.

However, accepting something didn’t mean he liked it. He hated it when the larger Galra manhandled him like Sendak and Haxus had. He’d trained himself to be fast and fight without planning ahead. He could think on his feet, making split-tick decisions faster than most Galra, giving a slight advantage in fights with a race that relied heavily on brute force tactics.

He experienced that brute force now when Sendak grabbed him by the head and tossed him to the ground like he was nothing. He tumbled across the floor before his shoulder plate caught a crease in the metal plates on the floor and he ended up skidding. He was stopped when his back hit something solid but gave way somewhat from the force of his body. Something inside him tingled when he touched the solid object and he knew instantly what it was.

“Lance,” he cried.

Keithek flipped himself over to face his mate, immensely grateful for his Galra vision which made seeing in low light easy. He could see Lance’s form crumbled on the floor completely unresponsive to the noise and stimulation around him. It was disturbing to see the prince so uncharacteristically still. There was also this part of Keithek that screamed at him, telling him his mate was hurt, see to his mate, make sure his mate was alright. He knew Lance was alive, but nothing else.

Lance lay on his right side so his back faced the view screen, hiding his face in shadow. His blue clothes were ripped and speckled with what Keithek knew to be blood. His arms were behind his back at what was probably an awkward angle, probably bound. Keithek pushed himself up from the floor and crawled up to his mate’s side and noticed the dark, reddish liquid puddling beneath Lance’s head.

A quivering sense of dread began to settle in Keithek’s stomach. With shaking hands, he gently rolled his unconscious mate over so Lance lay on his back. Keithek gripped Lance’s chin and turned it so the light from the view screen shown on it. Only blood and gore remained where the prince’s right eye had once been. It shocked him silent. Lance’s chin slipped form Keithek’s numb fingers, lolling back to the side.

The red paladin was vaguely aware of the green paladin scurrying to Lance’s side and noticing something was wrong right away. Then Allura was there and Shiro. Their voices were murky and unclear, blurring with the cacophony of dread and misery. All but Sendak’s voice, that is.

He looked up just in time to see Sendak crush Lance’s eyeball, destroying any chance of retrieving it and attempting to reattach it. His mate had lost his eye because he’d left him alone. He had failed his mate. He had failed his _mate._ He had given Sendak the opportunity to harm Lance. Sendak had even taken a prize, like a victor did to those they defeated. Then the bastard had crushed it indicating Lance’s loss had been insignificant.

Sendak hurt Lance and insulted him.

Unforgivable.

The alpha instincts deep within Keithek blazed to the forefront, blinding him to anything but the monster responsible for disrespecting and harming _his_ mate. He didn’t remember standing and drawing his weapon. All he could think about was the Galra bastard standing there had to die.

The next moment, Keithek found himself in the air, his bayard sword gripped tightly in his right hand. He brought the tip of the blade down onto the bastard’s exposed chest as close to the heart as he could get in his crazed state. The satisfying squelch of the razor sharp blade slicing through flesh accompanied by the splatter of warm blood and the bastard’s choked cough of the Galra salute rang in his ears.

“Vrepit sa.”

Keithek pushed all of his weight onto the sword, pushing it deeper until the bastard thudded dully on the floor at his feet. Barely able to comprehend what was happening beyond the immediate knowledge that the bastard that harmed his mate was dead or soon would be, Keithek deactivated his bayard. He staggered, turned, and stumbled back to where Lance lay.

He couldn’t make out the words of the others around him. He could only think of Lance, only see his face like it was the light at the end of a long tunnel that was closing in around him. Keithek fell to his knees and placed hands on either side of his mate’s face, feeling the smooth skin and warm blood under his palms.

Lance’s lone eye remained closed, and if his right eye had not been empty and filling with blood under a bruising eyelid, Keithek would have believed his mate was just sleeping. There was something else besides the blood covering the right side of the prince’s face. It had a sheen to it and was gelatin in texture. Keithek pulled his fingers back and examined the substance absently, smelling it.

It was a basic Galran field medication used to patch injuries. It was a temporary fix only and not meant to cure fatal wounds. It had slowed the bleeding, however, and would begin to aid in the healing process as long as it remained in place. Nevertheless, if Lance had any chance of surviving this, Keithek needed to get the prince into one of the Castle’s healing pods.

With a solid goal in mind, Keithek tenderly gathered his mate up in his arms, disregarding the blood that leaked onto his armor. Lance’s head slumped forward so it lay nestled against Keithek’s armored chest just below his shoulder.

Someone- he couldn’t tell who- reached out as if to take Lance away from him. He clamped his mate close to him and bared his teeth at the person in a vicious snarl. He would die before he let his mate out of his sight, especially right now when his mate needed him most. When it was Keithek’s fault his mate was in this state in the first place.

The hand retreated quickly to a distance Keithek deemed acceptable and he calmed. Taking care not to jostle his mate’s disturbingly still body in his arms, Keithek stood and began walking. He adjusted his grip so his sharp claws didn’t dig too deeply into his mate’s flesh. He wasn’t consciously aware of anything except the fact that he had to reach the healing pods now.

The Galra crystal wasn’t ideal, but it channeled power to the healing pods, which was exactly what his mate needed right now. He just had to get there. He shook off a hand that rested on his shoulder. It wasn’t trying to stop him, so he didn’t reject it entirely, but it was an attempt to get his attention. Nothing needed his attention right now. Just his mate and his goal.

Something yellow blurred across his vision like a distant dream but Keithek dismissed it. The healing pods weren’t yellow, therefore the dream didn’t deserve his attention. He blinked when the dim purple glow suddenly vanished leaving him and his mate in absolute darkness. His Galra vision sharpened only to be blinded by a blindingly bright turquoise light.

Wincing as his eyes pricked painfully under the light’s assault, Keithek continued moving forwards. He didn’t know how long he walked. It felt like forever and it felt like a mere tick. However long it was, he blinked and was greeted by the sight of a healing pod standing ready before him. The shield vanished and he stepped inside the pod.

Keithek couldn’t sleep with his mate, but he could stay close by. He eased his mate’s legs down so Lance’s feet touched the floor. He situated Lance’s body so the prince slumped against the back of the healing pod. He didn’t let go until the pod’s systems activated, holding his mate’s body securely in place. Only then did Keithek step out of the pod to watch the shield slide into place before the cryogenic healing process began.

He lifted a hand and rested it on the pod’s transparent shield over his mate’s heart. Lance’s head remained still, his lone eye closed in a healing sleep. Keithek keened and rested his forehead against the shield’s surface. Seeing his mate like this hurt. It felt like someone had clawed his heart out of his chest and held it in front of his as he struggled to stay alive. Keithek knew if Lance didn’t survive this, there was a very little chance he would survive either.

Ah, the trappings of being mated.

He laughed. His shoulders shook as he laughed. He laughed until his knees quivered and gave way beneath him. He laughed as he sank to the floor, propped up only by the pod’s shield as close to his mate as he could get. He laughed until the laughter became sobs. He wept until he couldn't anymore. Then he just sat and stared at nothing.

* * *

 

Hunk could barely believe his eyes. He had never seen the red paladin in such a vulnerable state before. He certainly never wanted to see it again. Watching Keith like this felt like a severe intrusion of privacy, but it was difficult to look away. This had not been what he’d been expecting when he got back to the Castle with Coran and the new crystal. Nothing had been what he’d been expecting.

The first thing Hunk saw when he and Coran crashed back through the atmosphere of Arus was the Castle’s purple glow. It was just wrong in so many ways. When they landed the pod, he’d run out with his bayard activated and ready to fight. But only Shiro stood there looking lost and frantic.

“Do you have the crystal?” he demanded without even so much as a ‘hello.’

“Of course we do,” Coran said, stepping out of the pod and studying the black paladin suspiciously. “Why? What’s happened? Why is the Castl-”

“There’s no time,” Shiro said. “Hunk, Coran, help me get the crystal to the chamber.”

He ran to the crystal and between the three of them managed to lift it and haul the thing into the lift.

“What happened?” Hunk asked his uncharacteristically disheveled friend and leader. “Shiro? Is Lance-”

“Later,” Shiro said curtly, crouching to pick up the crystal again.

Hunk quickly helped. Coran did his best to guide the two paladins to the crystal chamber and keep an eye on the crystal itself so it didn’t overbalance and fall to the floor and shatter. Hunk was a bit disturbed by the eerie purple light filtering dimly from the lamps on the Castle’s walls. They barely cast any light leaving the majority of the place in shadow. It was disturbing.

Thank Pele the walk from the lift to the crystal chamber wasn’t too far. They passed Keith holding Lance in his arms and looking like he’d seen a ghost. Pidge was trailing behind Keith, watching the red paladin carefully as if he expected Keith to walk into a wall or something. Allura was awake and running ahead of Keith and Pidge towards the healing pod's chamber.

Hunk’s thoughts were quickly distracted by carrying the crystal into the crystal chamber and leveraging it up onto the platform in the middle of the room.

“Wait,” he said, setting the crystal down. “What the heck is that thing doing here?” he asked, pointing to the large crystal pulsing a dull purple. “If you already found a cry-”

“It’s the Galra’s,” Shiro said, quickly unhooking the crystal from the Castle and yanking the connections away from the platform. He heaved the purple crystal aside to make room for the crystal Hunk and Coran had brought back.

“The Galra’s?” Coran cried. “How did-”

“Look,” Shiro snapped, “I’ll explain everything but you have to get that crystal in place now. Talk later.”

Coran flinched at the black paladin’s fear fueled anger. Hunk watched his friend as Shiro helped the yellow paladin heave the Balmeran crystal onto the platform. Shiro wasn’t wearing his armor helmet and his hair was a mess, almost as if he’d run his fingers through it anxiously for a while. Shiro’s eyes were wide and filled with worry. Something had happened while Hunk and Coran were gone and whatever it was, it was severely affecting Shiro.

Coran nudged the crystal so it sat in the center of the platform before stepping back. A second later, a beam of light shone from the ceiling down on the crystal. Hunk’s mouth dropped open as the Balmeran crystal he’d had trouble carrying here lifted easily into the air. It rose up to the ceiling, settling into the slot the previous crystal occupied with a soft grating sound. There was a rumbling sound followed by a bright light as the crystal began powering the Castle.

The lights returned to their soothing turquoise and Hunk smiled.

“We did it,” Coran said proudly, placing a hand on Hunk’s shoulder fondly.

“Yeah,” Hunk said, slapping his own hand on Coran’s forearm. “We did.”

His smile faded when he heard footsteps running away. When he turned around, he was surprised to see Shiro was gone.

“Shiro?” he called.

There was no reply but Hunk could still hear his friend running down the hallway. So he did the only logical thing to do in this kind of situation: chase after Shiro. With the power restored to the Castle, the hallways were lit brightly and Hunk could see clearly where he was going. Coran caught up with him then passed him which galvanized the yellow paladin into admitting that yes, he did need to work out more.

After a couple turns, Hunk realized where they were going. He burst into the healing pod chamber just in time to see Keith collapse against the pod that held Lance’s unconscious body in hysterical laughter that was mixed with sobs. Keith’s red and white armor was disturbingly more red than usual.

It dripped and Hunk realized the red smeared on Keith’s armor wasn’t paint, it was blood. But whose… He looked up at Lance in the healing pod and immediately wished he hadn’t. The price’s right eye was completely gouged out, the eyelid falling on the bleeding flesh of his cheek. It looked like Lance was weeping tears of blood. Strangely, Hunk’s stomach didn’t rebel at the sight like he thought it would. Instead, he just felt empty.

“What happened?” he breathed.

Pidge clutched Rover to his chest tightly and bit his lips, trying to control himself. Shiro stood silently, staring at the Altean’s form in horror and guilt. Allura had tears visible on her cheeks but she didn’t sob openly like Keith did. Instead, she sat down in the middle of the pod chamber and tried to keep herself in control.

“The Galra got in the Castle,” she said. Her voice was uneven and deeper than usual from the pent up emotions. “They captured Lance and…” She swallowed and took a deep breath to steady herself. Her lower lip quivered as she continued. “They, uh, they locked us out. We couldn’t get in. They raised the particle barrier.” She furiously brushed another tear from her eye. “Pidge was the only one inside. We got in but… The Galra commander ripped out Lance’s eye,” she said, finally sobbing. “We couldn’t get it back. He crushed it.” She pressed the palms of her hands over her eye and wept. “He _crushed_ it.”

Hunk felt his stomach drop. He knew there was more, so much more, that hadn’t been said. But he also knew no one was in a position to talk about it right now. He looked at Coran and wasn’t surprised to see the adviser shaking like a young tree in a storm. Hunk stepped down into the lower level of the healing pod chamber and sat on the step.

It took some encouragement, but Coran eventually sunk to the floor next to the yellow paladin. The advisor buried his face in his hands and rested his forearms on his knees, his shoulders shaking from his quiet tears. Hunk rested a hand on Coran’s back and kept it there. They both needed comforting right now. They _all_ needed comforting right now.

* * *

 

Shiro bowed his head and turned to the princess sitting on the floor miserably. He strode up to her and sat by her side, pulling her into his arms. Allura latched onto the black paladin, clinging to him as she cried her heart out. Tears brimmed Shiro’s eyes too, and he didn’t bother trying to fight them. He was too tired, too exhausted physically and mentally to cry, but the tears still flowed.

Pidge clung his hoverbot and sank to his knees between Hunk and Coran and Shiro and Allura. His small body quivered with tears and Shiro couldn’t resist reaching out and resting a hand on the green paladin’s helmet. Pidge looked up at Shiro with wide, teary eyes and he smiled gently.

“You did good,” he said. “You father would be proud of you.”

Pidge squeezed his eyes shut and let himself lean against Shiro’s side and cry. Shiro’s smile gentled as he pulled Pidge close. Hunk and Coran were clearly still trying to process the unexpected turn of events, but they hadn’t moved from the step. Shiro doubted they would.

He looked up at Keithek and wished he could help. But he knew there was nothing he could do for the red paladin except wait for Lance to wake up. So he held the princess and Pidge tightly and settled in for a long night. No one was going to sleep tonight.


	13. Warmth of Family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Lance wakes up and has a meaningful talk with Keith and Coran is a bad influence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **A/N:** To prove I do have a heart, I present to you fluff...after more feels. I chose Allura's and Lance's siblings' and mother's names from a list of lots of choices. In order from eldest to youngest:  
>   
>  **Mother:** Lakshmi  
>  **1)** Aldrun (male)  
>  **2)** Lauma (female)  
>  **3)** Allura (female)  
>  **4)** Lance (male)  
>  **5)** Alwida (female)  
>  **6)** Latif (male)  
>   
>  See the pattern? It's deliberate. You'll start getting more sneak peeks of the royal family pre-Great War as the story continues. Their deaths will also be dealt with soon. However, I included some detail in this chapter. I tend to choose names for OC characters and places (planets) that have meanings I think are pertinent to the character. But I also prefer to keep OCs to a minimum as best I can. They move the plot forward for the main characters, nothing else.
> 
> There is some light gore in the beginning of this chapter followed by angst and cavity inducing fluff.  
>   
> If you don't know what muriatic acid is, feel free to either look it up or wait until it's explained in the story. There's no spoilers there, just a plot point.  
> 

He stood watching the starbugs sparkling in the grass and rising to dart between the many colorful lanterns swaying in the breeze. Above them, Altea’s sister planet Achlys moved across the sky towards the setting Daystar. Or, it wasn’t called Achlys anymore, was it?

A starbug flashed in front of his face and he smiled watching the tiny bug fly against the mountain wind towards its brethren. Alteans of all walks of life stood in the Plain of Flowers to watch the Daystar set heralding the beginning of the annual Juniberry Festival. Pennants, ribbons, and woven flower chains fluttered in a particularly strong gust from the orient that almost knocked him off his feet.

He staggered only to be caught by a pair of strong, gentle hands. He blinked and looked down at the hands holding him. They were a light purple color with short, sharp nails. He followed the arms up to their owner’s face and wasn’t surprised to see Keith standing there.

Why wasn’t he surprised?

Keith smiled and pressed a kiss to Lance’s eye scale sending a shiver up the prince’s spine. He closed his eyes and hummed, leaning back in Keith’s arms and allowed himself to be supported.

When he opened his eyes, Allura was there handing him a cup of juniberry juice. The scent of the pungent berries wafted up to his nose. It was wonderful. He held the cup up to Keith who sniffed it and promptly wrinkled his nose at the strong smell, eyeing the drink suspiciously. Lance snickered and pulled the cup back down to a more comfortable position and looked back to the setting Daystar.

The juice smelled odd.

Voices he knew and some he didn’t filled the air, dancing around the music like a perfectly woven tapestry. It warmed his heart. It wouldn’t be long now before the festival began. Something tugged his shirt and he looked down to see Alwida staring up at him with her soulful eyes the same deep shade of blue as Lance’s. She lifted her hands in a quiet plea to be held.

How could anyone resist those eyes? Lance obediently stepped free of Keith’s hold and picked up his baby sister, propping her on his hip so she could see better. Squeals broke the atmosphere just as Latif, the youngest of the royal siblings of Altea, darted in front of Lance and Keith holding a frantically beeping and flashing hoverbot. Close on Latif’s heels was a flailing Pidge and an endlessly put upon Aldrun, the eldest of the royal siblings.

Why was Pidge here?

Allura was doubled over, laughing heartily at the sight with her older sister Lauma by her side, supporting her. Granted, Lauma couldn’t do much supporting, considering she was laughing just as hard as Allura. Many other Alteans joined in on the laughter and merrymaking until the traditional call for silence.

The tip of the Daystar still peeping over the far horizon blazed a fiery red as King Alfor stepped to the front of the group with his wife Queen Lakshmi. When the king held up his glass of juniberry juice, Lance and the other Alteans present held up theirs to catch the last rays of the Daystar.

Where was Alwida?

Silence broken only by the howling wind reigned. Lance shivered and looked into the wind. It was the equinox in the warm season. The wind shouldn’t be this chilly.

The comforting hand holding onto his hip lifted and rested atop the prince’s hand holding the juniberry juice. Lance lifted his eyes to Keith’s hand covering his own and furrowed his brows. Keith’s hand was cold. He shivered again.

He never remembered the festival being this cold before.

The Daystar finally ducked below the horizon and a cheer rang across the mountainside as the festival began. Lance didn’t drink his juice right away like the others probably would. Instead, he turned to face Keith and offered him the cup. Keith took the cup in surprise before bursting into a smile that lit up his face.

Don’t drink it.

Screams began joining the cheers. Not the screams of children or of lovers, but of the pained and terrified. Why would people be afraid on such a sacred night as this?

Don’t look.

Lance looked at the crowd and reeled back in awful horror. The Alteans, his people, were screaming and falling to the ground writhing and vomiting blood. People were coughing and dropping their cups to press their hands to their mouths desperately trying to keep their faces from melting away. Everything the juniberry juice hit as it splashed from the thrown cups melted and corroded in a steaming mess.

The cold crept into Lance’s bones as he witnessed the terrible event. His eyes widened and he spun around in time to see Keith press the cup to his lips and take a huge gulp. Keith coughed, spraying blood and something that stung and ate at his skin on him.

No. No please.

Lance yanked the cup from Keith’s hands and tossed it aside only to hear a startled shriek of agony. He whirled and saw Allura and Lauma scratching their faces to get the liquid eating them alive off. But it was useless.

Muriatic acid.

How did he know that?

_“Did they scream as they died?”_

He stilled. No. That’s not possible.

_“Did you try to save them or did you flee from them, leaving them to their fates?”_

No. He clapped his hands over his ears and squeezed his eyes shut, trying to block out that voice and its damning questions.

_“I think you stayed to watch them die.”_

No!

_“Did you enjoy it?”_

NO!

A hand slapped into his shoulder and swung him around so he faced Keith’s bloody face as the muriatic acid ate away at it, slowly and painfully killing. Keith’s other hand clamped down on his other shoulder holding him in place and preventing him from fleeing.

 _"You_ _knew exactly what you were doing, didn’t you, Altean?”_

Lance’s hands slid from his ears as the voice pierced his mind matching Keith’s dissolving lip flaps. It was Keith speaking but it wasn’t his voice. It was Sendak’s.

 _“Did you leave him to die after you escaped?”_ Keith gurgled in Sendak’s hideous voice.

Lance trembled, unable to tear his gaze from Keith’s disturbing face. His hands shook as he reached up to hover just above Keith’s afraid to touch him but desperate for something to tell him this wasn’t real. This was a lie. This was wrong. It was all _wrong!_

Keith’s hand slid from Lance’s right shoulder, brushing the razor sharp nails along the skin, pressing into his Mark. It hurt but he couldn’t make a sound. He couldn’t breathe. His knees gave out under Keith’s superior strength. But it wasn’t Keith’s strength.

Slowly, Sendak’s smiling face superimposed itself over Keith’s until Lance could barely differentiate them. He landed hard on his knees but the pressure didn’t ease, it increased forcing him into the dirt. His head tilted back under the onslaught and Sendak’s face grinned wider, revealing the bloody and destroyed remains of Keith’s mouth.

A nail touched his eye scale and Lance knew what would happen next. He couldn’t take it. He didn’t want this. He wouldn’t survive it this time.

Had he survived it the first time?

This wasn’t real. He chanted the mantra in this head as nails appeared in his field of vision, moving ever closer to his vulnerable eyeball. He couldn’t scream. He couldn’t run. This wasn’t real. It wasn’t real. It was a dream.

_Wake up!_

“Wake up!”

Lance's eye flew open and he stared up at the person hovering above him in shock. It took a moment for him to fully return to himself and comprehend what he was seeing. He was lying on his back in a bed with Keith on all fours, boxing him in and gazing down at him. Keith’s violet and yellow eyes shone wetly and tear streaks sparkled on Keith’s cheeks in the dim turquoise light of the lamps.

Turquoise.

Lance looked around him at the familiar turquoise light, too afraid to dare hope. He recognized the walls and the ceiling. The blankets that covered him were soft and warm over his cold body. This was his bedroom.

His gaze returned to Keith’s face when the red paladin’s fingers pressed gently against his left cheek. Keith’s fingertips brushed lightly down Lance’s cheek into his hair, combing through the strands with care. He looked lost for words. Lance was willing to bet they both did right now.

He swallowed his fear and released a breath he hadn’t known he’d been holding. “Is this real?” he asked. His voice was hoarse and scratchy from screaming itself raw.

Keith pressed his lips together and nodded, worrying his lower lip between his teeth. “Y-yeah,” he said in a voice that was just as abused as Lance’s. “Yeah, it is.”

Lance lifted his right hand and paused. He couldn’t see his hand. Why couldn’t he see his hand? He turned his head and looked at his hand in confusion. He blinked and winced in pain when his right eyelid attempted to blink but something held it in place. Lance lowered his hand to his own face and felt the bandages covering the right side of his face.

This was real.

That had happened.

“Is it…gone?” he asked almost too softly to be heard.

Keith couldn’t speak. He didn’t have to. His expressive eyes gave everything away. Lance was too exhausted to scream or cry. He’d done enough of that when Sendak… He swallowed hard and forced the thought from his mind. He just sighed and let his hand drop weakly to the mattress next to his face.

“Are…are you alright?” Lance asked, studying Keith’s face with his one eye.

Keith hesitated before nodding. “I’m not hurt,” he said simply.

Lance forced a smile. “Al- Katie?”

“Allura’s fine,” Keith said. “So are the others. Hunk and Coran brought back a new crystal and we got the ship airborne.”

“We’re in space?” Lance asked turning his head so he could see the view screen on the wall. “When did we…?”

“Yesterday,” Keith said.

“How long was…” Lance swallowed, feeling the fear begin to claw at his heart. He’d been put into a healing pod. How long had he been in it this time? Keith was here so hopefully he hadn’t been asleep for too long.

“Two cycles,” Keith said.

Lance gazed at the red paladin quietly. Keith was paler than usual and there were dark circles and bags under his violet eyes. The ears Lance adored were flopped forward tiredly and Keith’s dark purple-black hair hung lank on either side of his face.

“Have you slept?” Lance asked, concerned.

Keith’s ears perked up slightly and he huffed a smile, leaning down to rest his forehead against Lance’s. Keith’s thumb brushed Lance’s left eye scale and pressed gently. Lance sighed and let his eye close, absorbing what he could from the contact. Keith wasn’t Altean, so he couldn’t feel Lance like Lance could feel Keith, but the action itself was intimate.

“Couldn’t,” Keith whispered, his hot breath teasing Lance’s lips. “You hadn’t woken up yet.”

Lance lifted his left hand and covered Keith hand with his own. “You need to sleep,” he said.

Keith shook his head minutely. “Not until you’re well again,” he said.

“You need to sleep,” Lance said again, easing open his one good eye. “I can’t lose you.”

Keith pressed his fingers harder into Lance’s face, rubbing his thumb in gentle circles over the eye scale. Lance bit his tongue trying to keep from humming at the motion. He couldn’t stop his eye from drifting shut and tilting his head into Keith’s hand.

“You’ll never lose me,” Keith said. “Just don’t leave me.”

Lance fought the fresh tears forming in his eye, hoping against hope that they wouldn’t fall. “Is S- Is he dead?” he whispered, stumbling over Sendak’s name.

He felt Keith nod his head. “In every way that matters,” he said.

His eyebrows pulled down at the red paladin’s word. “What do you mean?”

“The princess wants to get information out of him,” Keith said, the faintest hint of disgust in his voice. “She put him in one of the cryopods on the lower levels of the Castle.”

Lance hummed. “The prison pods,” he murmured. “How did-”

“He should be dead,” Keith growled, startling Lance’s eye open. “I stabbed him,” Keith said fiercely. “He should be _dead.”_

“You stabbed him?” Lance asked, not sure if he heard the red paladin right.

Keith nodded, glancing at Lance uncomfortably. “I…” Lance waited while Keith struggled to find the right words to express himself. “I felt you,” Keith tried again. “When Sendak hurt you,” he clarified, “I felt it. I felt your pain. I couldn’t think straight. I just… I had to find you. I had to stop him.”

Lance’s eye widened as Keith spoke. “You felt…this?”

The red paladin nodded slowly. “I felt like my mind was on fire,” he said. “I could barely breathe. I felt like I would die if I didn’t get to you.”

Lance winced and looked away. “I’m sorry,” he whispered.

Keith’s hand tightened on his face, urging the prince to look at him. _“Never_ say that,” Keith said fiercely. “Ever. You’re my mate. Nothing comes before you.”

* * *

_“You knew he wouldn’t be able to resist his mate.”_

* * *

Sendak’s voice jabbed Lance’s conscience cruelly like a serrated blade. Lance forced a smile and said nothing. He could tell Keith wasn’t satisfied with Lance's concession, but he didn’t press. Instead, he lowered his head beyond what Lance’s lone eye could see and nuzzled the Mark on Lance’s neck. He pressed a delicate kiss there and Lance felt his heart squeeze at the tenderness.

“Mine,” Keith murmured.

Lance sighed and tilted his head back for easier access, his eye falling shut. Keith purred against the bandages and bare neck. The vibrations sent goosebumps racing over the prince’s skin.

“Let me court you,” Keith said, his lips brushing the bandages near Lance’s ear.

The prince’s eye flew open in shock. He turned his head to stare at Keith in disbelief. “What?”

The red paladin lifted his head so he could meet Lance’s gaze directly and said in a steady if hoarse voice, “Please, let me court you.”

Lance’s mouth dropped open. “How…” He trailed off when Keith brushed a few stray strands of brown hair behind his ear.

“Why didn't you tell me?” Keith asked. When Lance just looked at the red paladin in confusion, Keith sighed. “Why didn’t you tell me I was treating you like a whore?”

Lance pressed his lips together and looked away.

“Look at me,” Keith begged _. “Lance._ You allowed me to disrespect you like that. Why?”

Lance lifted one shoulder in a half-hearted shrug. “I knew you didn’t mean it that way,” he said.

“But you saw it that way,” Keith said. He bowed his head when Lance said nothing. “Why didn’t you tell me? I would have stopped pushing.”

Lance sighed. “I know you would have.”

“Then _why?”_

“I didn’t want it to stop,” Lance said finally. “I… I wanted it but…I didn’t at the same time. It was… I was confused. I know what the Mark means to you and I didn’t want you to-”

He stopped when a finger pressed on his lips. He opened his eye and looked up at Keith who gazed down at Lance sadly.

“Tell me when I disrespect you,” Keith said firmly. “You’re my mate. That’s final as far as I’m concerned. Any Galra would see it that way. There is nothing more beyond Marking a mate. There are no ceremonies or events. It’s considered a very private and highly personal thing. We don’t advertise our actions regarding our private lives. It’s considered disrespectful to our mates.” Keith sat up, removing his finger from Lance’s lips. “Disrespecting your own mate is beyond rude,” he continued. “Never let me do it again.”

Lance nodded. “Who told you about courting?” he asked hesitantly.

“Coran,” Keith answered promptly. “He was very informative.”

“Oh quiznak,” Lance moaned, rolling his eye dramatically.

Keith chuckled, pausing in surprise when he realized what he just did. He shook his head in amusement. “I’ll do my best to meet your culture’s expectation of courting, but I may stumble here and there,” he admitted. “Tell me when I do so I can correct myself.”

“I will,” Lance promised.

“Good.”

The door hissed open and both boys looked at it curiously. Allura stood in the doorway with her hands covering her mouth in tearful joy. She looked just as worn down and sleep deprived as Keith.

“Tell me you slept,” Lance pleaded.

Allura laughed breathlessly but shook her head.

“Ugh,” Lance groaned. “What is wrong with you two? Beauty sleep is a good thing.”

Allura choked on a sob and ran to climb onto the left side of bed when Keith settled on Lance’s right. She pressed her forehead to Lance’s and pressed her thumbs on her brother’s scales, both the bandaged one and the unbandaged one. Lance’s eye remained open so he saw his sister’s tears when she quickly sat up and wiped them away.

“The others?” Lance asked.

Allura flushed and glanced over her shoulder significantly. Lance looked at the ceiling and sighed.

“Coran,” he called loudly. The thunk from the hallway betrayed the advisor’s eavesdropping. “If you’re going to listen in on us, then at least come in here and do it properly.”

The door slid open again and Coran stepped inside. Lance carefully pushed himself to a sitting position with his sister’s help. He leaned heavily on Keith’s shoulder once he was as straight as he could manage. When he looked up at the doorway again, he was stunned to see a flustered Shiro, Hunk, and Pidge standing next to Coran.

“Wait, you were _all out there?”_ he gasped. He looked at Allura suspiciously. “How much did you hear?” he demanded.

The princess tucked a lock of snowy hair behind her ear primly but pursed her lips in mild annoyance. “Not much,” she admitted in a grumpy voice. “You spoke too softly.”

“You…” Lance blushed bright red. “That was a private conversation!”

Allura shrugged. “I’m your big sister,” she said. “It’s my job to defend your virtue.” Lance choked and he was pretty sure Hunk did too. “Besides,” she added with a wry smirk at Keith who leaned away from her disconcertingly, “any future partner of yours has to meet my approval first.”

“Oh quiznak,” Lance groaned.

“Hey Shiro,” Pidge snickered, nudging the black paladin. “I think the princess just gave Keith the 'shovel talk.'”

Shiro just sighed heavily.

“You would find this amusing,” Hunk said to Pidge. The green paladin flashed Hunk two thumbs up and Rover flashed, beeping enthusiastically. “Dude,” Hunk said, pointing at Rover, “you even got the robot involved. You’re freaking scary, man.”

“I know,” Pidge chirped.

Shiro smiled but rolled his eyes skyward as if to ask what deity dropped him into this crazy family.

Speaking of, “Fine,” Lance said. “You get to approve of my future partner.” Allura smiled triumphantly. “But only if I get to approve your suitor,” he added, watching a blush creep into his sister’s lovely face. “It’s only fair.”

“I…I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said quickly, looking away.

“Ooh, Allura’s got a crush,” Pidge whistled. “Bet you ten bucks it’s Shiro.”

Shiro turned bright red but Hunk just gave Pidge a look.

“Dude, that’s not even a bet,” Hunk said. “That’s a fact. You don’t bet on facts.”

“Says who?” Pidge asked.

“Says the person who knows you don’t have ten bucks,” Hunk said.

Pidge raised his finger and opened his mouth to argue, then shut it and huffed. “That’s not the point.”

“You don’t bet on facts,” Hunk said. “You’re a scientist.”

“Engineer actually, but-”

“Engineer with an interest in science,” Hunk said. “Either way, facts are facts. Opinions and possibilities are perfectly acceptable though.”

“Okay.” Pidge thought for a moment. “Then I bet ten bucks Keith fucks Lance before Shiro and Allura get it on.”

Hunk slapped a hand over his face and Shiro made a very indignant squawk that was strangely high pitched.

“Pidge?!” Shiro cried.

Allura followed the whole conversation between the group in badly disguised awe.

“I’ll take that bet,” Coran said, startling the paladins.

“Coran!” Shiro cried. “You’re older than all of us. Set a good example.”

“I may be an adult, yes, but I’m not the parent in this situation,” the adviser said with a twinkle in his eye.

“Space Dad!” Pidge cheered.

“Space Dad!” Hunk cheered, less enthusiastically but with equal amusement.

“Space Dad!” Lance said, cackling madly.

Shiro sulked. “You’re all horrible,” he grumbled.

“You love us,” Hunk said.

“Well, you love Allura anyway,” Pidge said, nudging Shiro and winking over dramatically.

“Fine,” Shiro said. “If I’m the Da-,” he huffed and spit out the word, “Dad, then you’re all grounded.”

“What?” Hunk gasped.

“You can’t do that!” Pidge cried.

“I’m the dad, remember?” Shiro said, shooting the green paladin a look. “All of you go take a shower and get some sleep.”

Hunk and Pidge sulked and made their way out of Lance’s room. Pidge paused at the doorway long enough to stick his tongue out and shout, “You better sleep in your own bed, Shiro. I can’t lose this bet!”

Shiro’s eyes narrowed and he turned around and chased the madly laughing green paladin down the hallway.

“Um,” Coran said in the quiet that fell with the paladins’ departure, “what’s a ‘buck?’”


	14. Heartwarming Moments

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Lance gets cuddles, some family secrets are revealed, and Lance doesn't handle it too well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **A/N:** Some more cavity-inducing fluff, feels, and humor mixed in this chapter. I'm so tired right now I'm having a hard time seeing straight. I'll edit this tomorrow. Night y'all.

Lance couldn’t remember falling asleep last night, but he didn’t mind. He had stayed awake to listen to Hunk regale him with his adventure retrieving the crystal from the Balmera. When Lance heard of the disgraceful state of the Balmera at the hands of the Galra, he felt his heart ache. The Balmera were notorious for their peaceful and patient manner. They caused no harm to any living being, even at the expense of their own lives. For the Galra to harm one of that majestic species without any regard for its life was a terrible thing.

He didn’t overlook the fond way Hunk spoke of this Balmeran he called Shay. Was this a blossoming infatuation? How completely adorable. Even if it ultimately led to nothing but a close friendship for both, it was still a relationship to be cherished. That wouldn’t stop Lance from teasing Hunk for it at every given opportunity though.

When Hunk eventually retired for the night, Keith had remained behind with Allura. The princess had spent the time filling Lance in on their fight with Sendak. Despite his best efforts, Lance had eventually begun nodding off around the time Allura got to the point where they launched the Castleship. The last thing he clearly remembered was Allura mentioning something about starting to track down distress signals to begin their fight against Zarkon in earnest.

When he woke up, Lance was warm and surprisingly comfortable. His fingers were intertwined with someone’s, Allura’s he guessed from the dainty shape of the fingers, and his head was tucked under someone else’s chin, probably Keith’s. He opened his eye and smiled at the sight of dark hair at the edge of his vision. He tilted his head slightly to the left and saw his sister curled close to Lance’s left side sleeping soundly.

“Awake?” Keith whispered, his lower jaw brushing Lance’s hair.

Lance hummed and nuzzled Keith’s throat. “No,” he mumbled.

The red paladin huffed lightly and placed a soft kiss on the prince’s head. “Are you sure?” he pressed.

“Sure,” Lance said, closing his eye.

Keith chuckled. “You have to get up eventually,” he said, a smile audible in his voice.

“’Llura’s still asleep,” Lance grumbled.

“She hasn’t slept until now,” Keith said.

“I’m her pillow,” Lance countered. “Can’t move.”

“Now you’re just grasping.”

Lance moaned. “Five more ticks.”

“You’re like a child,” Keith grumbled in amusement.

Lane hummed. “Why’re you complaining?” he asked. “You have me in bed with you.”

“That’s…”

“Stop blushing and sleep with me,” Lance sad, pressing his victorious smile to Keith’s throat. “You know you want to.”

Keith’s attempts to formulate a reply were music to the prince’s ears.

“If you two are going to start flirting, I’m leaving,” Allura said.

Lance froze and turned his head to stare at his sister. Her face was deceptively relaxed, her eyes were closed and her breathing was still slow and rhythmic. “You’re awake?” he cried.

“Well, if I wasn’t before, I certainly am now,” she said, opening her eyes and glaring at her brother. She heaved a sigh and sat up to stretch. She pulled her hand free of Lance’s and began tying her cloud of white hair up into a somewhat controlled bun. “Come join me on the bridge later,” she said standing. “You’ve had a long enough break from training.”

Lance moaned and deliberately turned his back on his sister to bury his face in Keith’s chest. “Quiznak you,” he said without heat.

“You wish,” she sang, strolling out of the room with only a backhanded wave as a farewell.

“She’s definitely a leader,” Keith said, watching the princess’s retreating back.

“She’s definitely something alright,” Lance muttered. He stretched out so the entire front part of his body pressed against Keith’s. He felt the red paladin tense and Lance grinned, nipping the halfbreed’s neck teasingly. Keith took a deep breath and let it out slowly through his nose.

“You’re testing my limits,” Keith said with practiced calm.

“I’m good at that,” Lance teased, wrapping his arms around his mate’s body and tilting his head back to kiss the soft underside of Keith’s jaw. “I don’t see you complaining.”

Keith made a soft sound of approval and looped his free arm around Lance’s back, holding him in place. “I’m not,” he said in a tight voice. “It’s just…difficult.”

“Do you want me to stop?” Lance asked hesitantly.

He felt a strange regret when Keith pulled away from him, but it quickly faded when a gentle pressure brushed against his bandaged face. He fought the urge to flinch when the unexpected touch made his wound sting and pulse with his heartbeat. It ached but it wasn’t just a bad pain.

“Never,” Keith murmured against the cloth. “But I don’t want you to go too far too fast.”

“Even if it’s what I want?” Lance asked, perhaps a bit more breathlessly than he meant to be.

“Is it?”

He couldn’t answer. If he said yes, it wouldn’t be entirely true. But he would be lying if he said no as well.

“If this is what you want without any hesitations, then tell me now,” Keith said.

Lance wanted to speak up; he really did. But he couldn’t make his mouth form the words.

“Then I’ll wait,” the red paladin said leaning away to meet Lance’s gaze with his own. “You’re my mate. That won’t change. But maybe you’ll be ready soon. I can wait.”

Then Keith pulled away entirely and climbed out of the bed. “Your sister is right about one thing though,” he said, ignoring the distinctly disappointed stare Lance was shooting him. “You do need to get up.”

Lance groaned and let his head drop back to the pillow. He snatched the blanket covering him and pulled it up so it covered his face. It also covered his blush when Keith laughed at him.

* * *

 

“What’s that alarm?” Hunk asked, stepping onto the bridge curiously.

“It’s a distress signal,” the princess said from her place on the central platform. Her hands rested on the two control columns by her waist, piloting the Castleship while one of her mice sat on her shoulder. “We’re going there now.”

“How long will it take, do you think?” Hank asked. “Coran and I promised to get back to the Balmera to do the life force exchange thing in a week. We can’t break that promise. I can’t let Shay and her family down.”

“I know, Hunk,” Allura said, giving the yellow paladin an encouraging smile. “That is our main priority but we can’t overlook any distress beacons we receive. The Paladin Code demands help be given to those who need it, no matter the circumstances.”

“Okay, then if someone gets stuck in the center of a star where no one can reach them, do we still help them?” Pidge asked poking Rover teasingly.

“Pidge,” Shiro said, giving the green paladin a look.

Hunk noticed the black paladin was giving that particular look to Pidge and himself more often than before this whole thing began. He would have to come with a name for it later.

“How would someone get stuck in the center of a star?” Allura asked in genuine confusion.

“Not to mention survive long enough to send out a distress beacon?” Coran added. “What type of technology would allow someone to survive in that kind of extreme environment?”

“The Doctor did it once,” Pidge said with a shrug.

“The who?”

“Precisely.” Pidge grinned and Hunk snorted, covering his barely contained laughter behind his hand. Shiro rolled his eyes, but Hunk still saw the smirk there.

“I’m not sure I understand,” Allura said. She studied her paladins closely. “What aren’t you telling me?”

“It’s nothing, princess,” Shiro said. “It’s just an Earth thing.”

“You still haven’t answered my question,” Pidge said.

Allura sighed and turned back to face the front of the bridge. The stars zipped across the panoramic view screens covering the walls of the bridge like an enormous planetarium. Shiro stood leaning against his pilot seat in front of and below Allura’s pilot platform with his legs crossed at the ankles. Instead of facing forward, he faced the back of the bridge so he could see Allura, Pidge in his pilot seat to the princess’s left, and Hunk who moved to his pilot seat which was also to Allura’s left but was set farther back than Pidge’s.

The blue and red paladins’ pilot seats were to Allura’s right and conspicuously empty. The blue paladin’s seat was aligned with Hunk’s, and the red paladin’s seat was aligned with Pidge’s. Only the black paladin sat in front of Allura. The only position farther forward than the black paladin’s seat was Coran’s control seat, though normally the adviser just stood while he completed his duties. Coran simply had much more energy than any person his age should, Shiro thought wryly.

Pidge had given up sitting in his pilot seat properly and had adopted a sprawl that Allura honestly couldn’t see as comfortable. But Pidge seemed to enjoy it, kicking his legs back and forth absently where they stuck up. Normally, the green paladin’s head would occupy the space where Pidge’s legs currently swung. His stomach pressed against the back of the pilot seat and his head was propped up by his forearms on the seat bottom so he could face forward. How could the boy's back hold that arch for so long and not even begin to ache? At least Hunk sat properly in his chair, for now.

“I suppose if we were unable to reach the origin of the distress beacon,” Allura said thoughtfully, “we would have to find alternative ways to help.”

“And if those ways didn’t work?” Pidge pressed, scratching his nose in obvious boredom.

“Then I suppose we would be forced to move on to the next distress signal,” the princess said finally, turning away from her green paladin. “Not everyone can be saved after all.”

Pidge looked up at the princess’s uncharacteristically morose tone and winced. “Sorry,” he said. “I forgot.”

Allura smiled grimly. “It’s alright,” she said.

Pidge pushed himself up and adjusted his position so his back arched even further. Honestly, how was that comfortable?

“Can I ask you a question?” Pidge said.

Allura laughed. “Technically, you just did,” she teased, flashing a warm smile at the youngest of her paladins. “But of course you’re welcome to ask another.”

Pidge pushed his glasses up his nose and kicked his legs to gain enough momentum to slide his body down the seat back. In his new position, Pidge dangled his legs over one armrest, rested his head on his folded arms on the other armrest, and let his hip rest on the seat bottom. His brown eyes focused on Allura almost shyly.

“Um, what was your family like?” Pidge asked.

Coran stilled his calculations and turned to the princess in concern.

“Pidge,” Shiro said gently, “maybe this isn’t the best-”

“No, it’s alright,” Allura said, casting a reassuring glance at the black paladin and her advisor. “It’s not something I’m ashamed of.” Her smile softened to something that was almost sad. “My siblings were always close, despite our rivalry. Lance and I were the middle children although Lance tended to get along better with the youngest than I did. I always tried to act more mature to fit in with Aldrun and Lauma,” said, laughing quietly to herself.

“Were they your older brothers?” Hunk asked quietly.

“Aldrun was,” Allura said. “Lauma was my older sister. We were attached at the hip Lauma and I. She taught me and Lance everything we know about fighting. But Lance always favored Latif and Alwida, the youngest of all of us. Latif was a mischief maker; no surprise considering the amount of time he spent with Lance. Alwida was a proper young lady. She loved riding on Lance’s shoulders.”

The princess took a deep, shaky breath and cleared her throat. “My father, Alfor, was the king of Altea and my mother, Lakshmi, was the queen. She was so beautiful. She was gentle but had a fierce temper. I took after my father while Lance was our mother’s boy in mind and soul.”

“Allura,” Shiro said, “you don’t have to tell us, you know.”

Allura smiled at Shiro, her eyes shining wetly in the light of the bridge. “I know,” she said. “I don’t mind. It… It’s actually a relief to talk about them.” Her hands tightened their grip on the control columns, an action that did not go unnoticed by the black paladin. “I didn’t have a lot of time to mourn them before the Great War began.”

“Did the Galra kill them?” Pidge asked. “Is that what started the war?”

“It was the catalyst, yes,” Allura said. “But the Great War would have happened whether my family died or not.” Her gazed hardened into something cold and remote. “We were betrayed by Zarkon. He was our ally, one of our greatest allies actually. He betrayed us and murdered my family. It was only by a sheer stroke of luck that Lance, my father, and I weren’t there when it happened. Or,” she dropped her gaze and worried her lip between her teeth, “we were _there_ , but we didn’t get a chance to drink the poison.”

“I’m sorry,” Shiro said.

“Yes. If we’d lost Allura and Lance,” Coran said, “it would have demoralized the people of Altea to the point we may not have been able to fight back. Because they survived, our entire race joined the war effort. The people voted to have Allura named the Heir Apparent and-”

“Wait, you voted on who rules next?” Hunk asked, leaning forward in his chair with interest.

“Oh yes,” the advisor said. “The royal family of Altea was an elected monarchy. Queen Lakshmi was voted into the office and married Alfor after the fact. Alfor had been Lakshmi’s Sentinel before he married her.”

“So the king- er, former king- held the same position as Lance does right now?” Pidge asked. “Lance is the Sentinel now, right?”

“Correct,” Coran said, nodding. “Lauma was originally supposed to be the next Sentinel after Allura was voted the Heir Apparent. But Lance took her place when the Druids declared his quintessence was better suited to the position.”

“Quint-what?” Pidge asked, repeating the unfamiliar word. “You mean that stuff that makes us the paladins of our Lions?”

“Yes, precisely,” Coran said. “Quintessence is a life energy that every living thing has. It can be extracted and stored in inanimate objects like crystals to use as a form of energy.”

“You mean like the crystal we got from the Balmera?” Hunk asked, sitting up straighter.

“Yes, exactly like that.” Coran smiled. “The Balmera’s crystals are special in that they are physical manifestations of the Balmera’s own quintessence. When I asked the Balmera for the crystal, our quintessences touched, allowing us to communicate directly without any lies or language barriers. That’s why the exchange of life energy is so important. I’m literally giving the Balmera some of my own quintessence to heal the wound and replenish the quintessence I took when I removed the crystal.”

“Woah, man,” Hunk said in awe. “That’s deep.”

“Talk about some serious shit there,” Pidge said.

“What about all of you?” Allura asked. “What are your families like?”

Hunk grinned. “My mom is the best cook on the planet.”

“Debatable,” Pidge said.

“Yo, she’s my mom,” the yellow paladin said. “I’m allowed to think my mom is the best cook in the world.”

“My dad was always the cook in the family,” Shiro said with a chuckle. “Both of my parents worked. My mom worked for JAXA as a pilot and astronaut and my dad worked for NASA as an astronomer attached to the Cronus 3 Mission.”

“Oh,” Hunk said, sinking into his seat. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Shiro said. “I’ve had a few years to get over it.”

Pidge wilted, sitting correctly in his chair and pulling Rover into his lap.

“I don’t understand,” Allura said. “Why are you sorry?”

“The Cronus 3 Mission was the first attempt to send a manned crew to Saturn’s moon, Titan,” Hunk said. “It was supposed to be a trial to set up a temporary colony on the moon’s surface to see if it would survive for a short period of time without any repercussions.”

“The ship was hit by solar radiation from a solar storm,” Pidge said. “They didn’t have a chance. No one on board survived.” He hugged Rover close. “That’s how Shiro met my family, actually.”

“Pidge,” Shiro said. “You okay with this?”

Pidge sat up straight and met the black paladin’s eyes directly. “Yeah,” he said. “I’m ready.”

“Why do I feel like I missed something?” Hunk said suspiciously.

“Shiro practically moved in with my family after the Cronus 3 Mission,” Pidge said. “He flew my dad and brother on the Kerberos mission. That’s when the Galra captured them. That’s actually where I got the name ‘Katie’ to call you when we were dealing with Sendak, princess.”

Allura noticed the way Hunk’s mouth shut and he nodded as if something finally made sense. Unfortunately, she was still confused. The blue mouse on her shoulder squeaked and Allura pet her furry friend absently.

“I don’t understand,” she said.

Pidge took a deep breath. “I guess I’m taking the long way here but,” he licked his lips nervously, “what I’m trying to say is that my name isn’t Pidge Gunderson. It’s Katie Holt. I’m a girl.”

“Oh,” Allura said, mildly surprised. “I’ve known that for some time now.”

“What?” Pidge cried.

“Honestly,” Hunk said, scratching his neck awkwardly. “I did too.”

“Wha-! Hunk?” Pidge whirled on the yellow paladin dumbstruck. “How the fuck did you know I was girl?”

Hunk turned bright crimson. “Um, dude, we shared a dorm room together,” he said. “You really think I never found your stash of tampons?”

Pidge’s blushed gave Hunk’s a run for its money. “You found my tampons?! What the hell were you doing in my stuff?”

Hunk shrugged casually. “I was looking for some chips.”

“You-” Pidge slapped a hand over her face and slumped back in her chair.

“I figured you were transgender,” Hunk said. “I mean, it didn’t really bother me either way. You told me you were a guy, so I didn’t argue.”

Pidge laughed. “You’re ridiculous, Hunk,” she said. “Space Dad, Hunk went through my things.”

Shiro snorted. “I’m sure you went through his too at some point,” he said. “I was in college too, remember?"

Pidge sulked.

“I’m not sure I understand,” Coran said, coming over to stand next to Shiro. “You said you were a guy?”

Pidge looked up at the royal advisor in confusion. “Yeah. I was trying to figure out what really happened to Shiro and my family.” He crossed his arms over his chest and Rover rose to hover at Pidge’s shoulder. “The Galaxy Garrison said the ship crashed due to pilot error killing everyone on board. That wasn’t true. I knew it, I just couldn’t prove it. But more importantly, I wanted to know what really happened. In order to do that, I had to join the Garrison.”

He snickered. “I fooled ‘em all,” he said, grinning darkly. “Those fat idiots banned me from stepping foot on Garrison property after I hacked their files and found out the Kerberos mission didn’t crash. So I cut my hair and joined the Garrison as Pidge Gunderson, a boy.”

Coran whistled. “Well, I’m not sure how they thought you were a boy, but I suppose if it worked out, then that’s a good thing.”

Pidge looked at the advisor in surprise. “You knew I was a girl too?”

“Oh yes,” he said readily. “You forget, I helped raise six children on Altea. I’ve seen a lot in my lifetime.”

Pidge snickered. “Yeah, I bet you have,” he said.

“So,” Shiro said, waiting for the green paladin to look at him. “What would you prefer we call you?”

“Yeah, and what pronouns?” Hunk added. “I’ll tell you now, if you say the female ones, it’ll probably take me a bit to get out of the habit of using the male pronouns.”

“Oh.” Pidge thought for a moment, then shrugged. “I mean, I’m a girl and I think of myself as a girl, but I don’t really care what you guys see me as. You can use whatever pronouns you want.”

“Whew,” Hunk said. “Dodged a bullet on that one.”

“What about your name?” Shiro asked. “Do you want us to call you Pidge or Katie?”

Pidge hunched her shoulders and looked around at the faces watching her intently. None of them were angry or disappointed. They were all friendly and supportive. He swallowed nervously and said, “Could… Could you keep calling me Pidge?” she asked. “I kind of like that name.”

Shiro smiled. “Of course we can,” he said. “I’m glad you decided to tell us, Pidge.”

“Tell us what?” Lance said, walking onto the bridge with Keith by his side. “What did we miss?”

“You certainly took your time, baby brother,” Allura teased.

Keith smirked and Lance flushed faintly, deliberately ignoring his sister’s taunt. “Wasn’t talking to you, Allura,” he said. “I was talking to Pidge.”

“Oh.” Pidge turned around in her pilot seat so she kneeled facing the Lance and Keith. She leaned on the back of the seat and smirked. “Good morning, Lance,” she chirped. “I’m a girl.”

“Good morni-whaAT? YOU’RE A GIRL?!” the prince cried, reeling back in shock. “Wha- Bu- HOW?”

Keith snorted. “I figured that out as soon as we met,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest proudly.

“Oh yeah?” Pidge said suspiciously. “How’d you do that?”

“You sounded like a female over the comms,” Keith said with a casual shrug. “Then when I smelled you, I knew you were a girl.”

“You _smelled_ me?” Pidge gasped. “Ew, gross. Pervert.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “It’s not just you. I can smell all of you,” he said. “You just smelled…” He rolled his shoulders, popping them. “I don’t know, stronger.”

“Oh crap,” Hunk grumbled.

“What?” Pidge asked.

“Pidge, what day is it?” Hunk asked.

Pidge lifted an eyebrow. “I don’t know,” she said. “October 19th, I think. Right?”

“I don’t know, that’s why I’m asking you,” Hunk said frantically.

“Okay, okay, geez. Let me think.” Pidge rested his chin on the back of his chair as he thought. “Yeah, it should be October 19th. We left Earth on October 11th. I remember because we had a physics test on October 12th. You were pissed at me for keeping you up so late. If we’ve been in space for,” he paused to count the days on his fingers, “about nine days, then yeah. It should be October 19th. Halloween’s in twelve days! WHOO!”

“Pidge,” Hunk said, “I think you’re missing the point.”

Pidge hesitated and looked at the yellow paladin blankly. “What?”

Hunk blushed and covered his face with his hands. “Please don’t make me say this out loud.”

“I really don’t know what you’re trying to say,” Pidge said. “Hunk? Hunk?”

Hunk groaned. “Gah! When’s your next period start?”

Pidge grimaced. “That’s none of your busi- SHIT! Oh shit shit shit!”

“There we go,” Hunk moaned.

“What? Pidge what’s going on?” Shiro said, hurrying to his friend’s side.

“I’m so confused,” Keith said.

“I don’t have any tampons!” Pidge shouted.

Shiro flushed. “Uh, well, I’m sure Allura can help you with that,” he said, holding up his hands. “Right, princess?”

Allura tilted her head to the side. “Maybe. What do you need?”

“Something to help with my period,” Pidge said. She hopped up from her chair and grabbed Allura’s hands. “Please tell me you have something to help stop the bleeding.”

“Stop the bl- Oh!” The princess jolted and her smile brightened. “Of course I can help you. I can show you some great ways to keep that under control.”

“Oh my god _thank you!”_ Pidge said in relief, hugging Allura tightly.

Allura laughed. “It’s no problem,” she said gaily. “We girls should stick together after all. We can’t let everyone else have all the fun, right Lance? Lance? Lance are you alright?”

Everyone turned to the prince who was staring at Pidge with a blank expression. “Keith, how long was I out?” Lance asked in a small, befuddled voice.

Keith gazed worriedly at his mate. “I already told you. Two cycles.”

“You’re sure?” Lance asked.

“Yes,” Keith said. “Why?”

Lance slid his hands over his partially bandaged face, pushing his fingers into his hair. “Pidge is a girl?” he said again. “Wha- Are you a shapeshifter too?”

“No,” Pidge said, wrinkling her nose. “I was never a boy to begin with.”

“So you’re a girl.”

“Yep, I’m a girl.”

Lance took a deep breath and after a moment of staring said, “I’m going back to bed.”

“What?” Allura asked in concern. “Why? Are you feeling alright?”

“I’m fine,” Lance said with a weary wave. “I’m just not sure if I’m still dreaming. I’m going to go try to wake up for real now. See you later. Maybe.”

“Is he okay?” Pidge asked.

“I’m sure he’s fine,” Coran said. “He’s probably just suffering from the blow to his pride for not noticing you were female before now.”

“Oh,” Pidge said, perking up. “Well that’s okay, then. How close are we to the distress beacon?”

“Not far now,” Allura said. “We should be close enough to open a channel actually. Coran, could you get on that please?”

“Of course, princess,” the advisor said.

“I can’t believe Pidge is a fraking _girl!”_ Lance’s voice filtered into the bridge from the hallway.

Pidge wasn’t the only one who was struggling not to laugh.


	15. Imploding Patience

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Shiro has a crazy day dealing with kids, princesses, and traders but learns there are some advantages to being 'Space Dad.'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **A/N:** Honestly, this was just a heck of a lot of fun to write, especially the last part. Poor Shiro. I tormented him so much, bless his heart. **FYI,** the story will start to branch from canon a bit from here on out. Slowly at first and ultimately not much until after I get to where Season 1 left off, but yeah.

Shiro kept pace with the princess as she walked out of the Castle’s main doors onto the surface of the small planetoid. Three aliens were sitting by a small fire staring up at the no doubt impressive sight of the Castle of Lions. Compared to their little vessel, the Castle was enormous and gleamed in the reddish light shining through the atmosphere.

“Nice ship,” the purple skinned alien said, standing and offering the paladins a broad smile. He wore a leather aviator's hat over his white hair and a worn but sturdy navy jacket that did nothing to cover his chest. Scales on his arms shimmered dully in the reddish light as he gave a gesture of greeting. “Sure would love to see that thing fly.”

Allura smiled. “We would be glad to escort your ship out of the atmosphere, if you wish. But after that, I’m afraid you’ll be on your own,” she said.

“No problem,” the alien said, waving away her offer with a friendly smile. “I’m Rolo. This is Nyma,” he pointed to the mustard yellow female alien who stood from her spot by the fire, “and Beezer, our cyber-unit,” he pointed to the small robot sitting on a box nearby.

“Woah! You’re so cool!” Pidge cried, racing past Shiro to stare at the aliens’ cyber-unit.

Rover flashed and chased after Pidge beeping indignantly. Pidge chattered away, oblivious to her robotic friend’s jealousy.

“Is that a Galra hoverbot?” the female alien, Nyma, gasped.

“Yep,” Hunk said, stepping up to the group and smiling tolerantly at his friend’s hilarious display of technophilia. “Pidge here rewired it so it works for us now. Actually,” he corrected, “it works for Pidge, not so much for us.” He shrugged.

“That’s some pretty useful skills you’ve got there, friend,” Rolo said. “Wouldn’t mind getting my hands on a Galra hoverbot myself.”

Pidge stiffened and grabbed Rover from midair, squishing the small droid to her chest. “Well you can’t have Rover,” she said, glaring at Rolo. “He’s mine. Find your own.”

Rolo quickly held up his hands to stave off Pidge’s anger. “Don’t worry, don’t worry,” he said. “I’m not going to take it. Just thought it was cool, is all. You got some skills kid.”

“I’m not a kid,” Pidge said, bristling.

“Alright, calm down Pidge,” Shiro said, restraining the green paladin with a stern hand on her shoulder. “I’m sure Rolo didn’t mean it as an insult.”

“No, not at all,” Rolo said chuckled. “No offense meant. I take it you guys are the ones who answered our distress beacon.”

“We are,” Allura said. “What seems to be the problem with your ship?”

“Oh yeah.” Rolo adjusted his hat and stared up at his beat up looking ship in exhaustion. “I can’t get the thing to start. We lost power, but I’m not sure why. We haven’t been here long so we decided to turn on our beacon and call it a night. But since you’re here, you mind helping us?”

“Of course,” the princess said. “That’s why we came.”

“Anyone fighting against the Galra is a friend of ours,” Shiro said, offering the aliens a friendly if tired smile.

Rolo’s smile widened. “So you _are_ against the Galra,” he said. “That’s a relief. I guess I don’t have to hide anything then, huh?”

“Hide anything?” Shiro asked curiously.

“Oh yeah,” Rolo said. “We’re traders. We’ve got quite a few things to sell on the Black Market.”

“Why am I not surprised there’s a Space Black Market?” Hunk said, sighing heavily.

“What would you sell on the Black Market that you couldn’t just sell normally?” Pidge asked, letting Rover go free so it could hover close to her shoulder.

“Lots of things, actually,” Nyma said. “Certain medicines that are hard to come by, weapons, plants, rare items, you name it.”

“Rare items,” Pidge said snickering.

“I doubt any of those items denote a side quest, buddy,” Hunk said, patting his friend’s shoulder. “Sorry Pidge.”

“Well,” Rolo said, scratching his head thoughtfully. “I mean, if you guys don’t mind helping out with my ship, Nyma can take of you to check out our cargo. Feel free to look, just don’t touch. You know the drill.”

“Sure thing,” Shiro said. “Hunk? Pidge? You two want to help Rolo with the ship?”

“Will Beezer get to help too?” Pidge asked.

Rolo laughed “Sure,” he said. “He’s the technical genius here.”

Nyma cleared her throat and Rolo corrected himself. “Well, he’s the technical genius who isn’t fed up with trying to get this bucket back in the air.”

“That’s better,” the yellow alien purred, pleased.

“Then sure,” Pidge said happily.

“If it’ll help speed things up, then yeah,” Hunk said.

“You in a hurry to get somewhere?” Rolo asked.

“Kind of, yeah,” Hunk said, following the purple alien to the small ship’s hull.

Shiro saw several panels had been removed and wires hung out. If the mess of tools was anything to go by, Rolo and his gang had been working on the problem for a while before Allura and her paladins had arrived.

“Well, since Rolo okay-ed it,” Nyma said, crossing her arms over her teal cut-off shirt, “then I guess I’ll show you around. Just remember the no-touch rule.”

“Actually,” Allura said hesitantly, “I was wondering if you had something specific.”

“Oh?” Nyma’s eyes narrowed, sensing a potential trade. “Like what?”

Shiro watched his princess bite her lip nervously and glance back at the Castle before answering. “Someone I care about lost his…um, the Galra stole his eye,” she said, stumbling over her words.

Nyma’s gaze softened minutely, but she had detected a trade opportunity and wasn’t about to let it pass. “So you need a cybernetic eye,” she said. “Do you have a particular model in mind?”

“So you do have one?” Allura asked, hope sparkling in her beautiful eyes.

“Maybe,” Nyma said, waving a hand. “What are you willing to trade for it?”

The princess straightened and nodded to Nyma in acknowledgement of her shrewd move. “I can offer our assistance with your ship and give you food and supplies if you need it,” she offered.

Nyma tilted her head thoughtfully. “Cybernetics tend to be rather expensive,” she said, turned to watch her companion work on the ship with Hunk and Pidge. “Especially if they do more than just convert light to the visible spectrum. I’m assuming you see visible light and not infrared, ultraviolet, or gamma ray, correct?”

“Correct,” Allura said, nodding.

“For argument’s sake, would you prefer a simple cybernetic eye or a more complex model?” Nyma asked.

Allura shrugged. “I’d prefer a more complex model,” she said, “but I understand if that’s too hard for you to get your hands on.”

Shiro fought a wince at the implied insult. But when he glanced at Nyma, he knew he’d missed something. Instead of offended, the female alien looked like she was doing her best to control her excitement. Strange.

“I’m sure,” Nyma practically purred. “I may have a few, but they’re hardly worthy of your attention. I wouldn’t do you the disservice of showing you. They won’t get me much at market anyway.”

What?

“Well, throwing something away would be a waste,” Allura said calmly, examining her fingernails. “But if you don’t mind throwing away perfectly good equipment then I suppose that’s your choice.”

What?

“If you want, you can look through the trash,” Nyma said, flicking one of her two, long yellow extensions hanging from either side of her head. Were those ears or…?

“I wouldn’t want to be a bother,” Allura said. “Don’t go out of your way for me.”

“Nonsense,” Nyma said, turning and gesturing for the princess and Shiro to follow her. “They’re trash, after all. I don’t judge what people like. If you’re willing to pay for trash, then who am I to turn you down. But then,” she shrugged in what Shiro suspected was contrived sadness, “I doubt it would fit your friend’s eye.”

“True, true,” Allura admitted, sounding just as sad.

Shiro suspected there was something going on here, but he wasn’t sure what. Allura was trying to conduct a trade, right? But why would she _and_ Nyma insult the very thing they were trying to buy, sell, both? Women were so confusing.

“Well, if I don’t like it,” the princess said, “I suppose I can help you throw it away.”

“Really?” Nyma asked. “You’d do that?”

“Of course,” Allura said with a smile. “No room for useless things on board my ship.”

“Agreed,” Nyma said, winking at the princess.

She unlatched her ship’s door and waited for it to open before stepping inside. Yellow-ish lights activated when she stepped inside revealing rows upon rows of miscellaneous items. When Shiro stepped inside, he looked at the stash in blatant curiosity. Some things recognized from his time with the Galra, others he was pretty sure came from Earth, but the rest were unidentifiable. Large boxes were stacked up along the back wall of the forward compartment they stood in.

To the right of the doorway was the ship’s modest bridge. It was Spartan in design but perfect for functionality. In fact, it looked a lot like the simulator cockpits from his time in the Galaxy Garrison.

Nyma made her way back to the boxes, shifting a few to the side before picking up one in particular. “Here you go,” she said, holding out the dented, red metal box. “Like I said, most of them are trashy so don’t worry. I won’t be offended if you don’t like any of them.”

Allura nodded and waited for Nyma to pop the latch and flip open the box’s lid. When the alien turned the box in her hands so its contents were visible, Shiro sucked in a breath. There were three cybernetic eyeballs in the case and none of them were trashy by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, at least one of them was a top-of-the-line model that Shiro would bet money the Galra would pay handsomely for. They were all different sizes, but the one on the right seemed about right size-wise.

Allura made a show of leaning over and examining the merchandise. Her fingers rubbed her chin as she considered each eyeball individually. After a minute or so, she hummed in disappointment and stood straight.

“You’re right,” she said. “These are all worthless.”

Shiro blinked and stared at the princess in shocked confusion.

“I know, right?” Nyma complained. “I mean, even this one is really just useful for scrap metal,” she said, pointing to the eyeball Shiro knew was worth the most out of all of the devices here.

What in the heck is going on here? Shiro thought wildly.

Allura rolled her shoulders and pursed her lips. “I don’t know,” she said hesitantly. “I think this one is worse off.” She pointed to the eyeball on the right. “I bet it doesn’t even work.”

“I doesn’t,” Nyma said. “Besides, it’s in serious need of an upgrade or three. I don’t even know why Rolo picked up the thing in the first place.”

“Men have no taste,” Allura moaned.

Both she and Nyma sighed in unison. Shiro was beginning to feel very uncomfortable right now. This was more than a little awkward.

“Well,” Nyma said, preparing to close the box. “Like I said, nothing but trash.”

“Actually,” Allura said quickly, making Nyma pause in her actions. “If you’re going to throw it away anyway, would you mind if I took the one on the right off your hands?”

Nyma smiled. “Really?” she asked in disbelief. “This old thing?” She picked up the eyeball Allura pointed out and rolled it around in her palm, setting the box aside for now. “It’s totally useless.”

“I’m sure,” the princess said, keeping her hands clasped in front of her. “I bet it wouldn’t have visible light converters at all.”

Nyma shook her head regretfully. “Or infrared,” she said. “I doesn’t even have the capability to zoom very far. The range on this thing is pathetic.”

“It has a horrible color too,” Allura said, lifting her hands from their carefully controlled clasp. She started to reach out to it, stopping herself just short of the eyeball’s surface.

“Oh yeah.” Nyma turned the eyeball so Shiro and the princess could see the mechanized iris. “I can’t get it to change to anything light colored,” Nyma grumbled. “Just dark colors. So boring.”

“I bet,” Allura said, crossing her arms when her hands twitched. “It’s probably too old for my technicians to look at it either.”

Shiro was so lost. It was obvious the princess wanted to touch the cybernetic eye, but she didn’t let herself. It’s like this whole thing was a game of who could come up with the best insults for something they both wanted to sell and buy the fastest. It was making the black paladin’s head spin. Also, Shiro was very sure Pidge would be itching to get her hands on this thing, especially if it was for Lance.

“It wouldn’t feel right,” Allura said finally. “Taking something so degraded like this and giving you something worthwhile would hardly be a fair trade.”

Nyma shrugged. “Well, I don’t expect much. A few new tools would be nice, but I’d settle for hot trillen right now. I need something for my throat.”

“Well, I don’t know about that, but I have some contraceptives I think,” the princess said.

Shiro blushed heavily. This was not a conversation he felt safe observing anymore.

“Oh?” Nyma asked. “Not that cheap stuff like Min, right? I swear that stuff just makes the guys go nuts, but it does nothing for me. I’ve heard a lot of bad stuff about it recently too.”

“Oh no,” Allura said, dismissing the suggestion with a careless wave of her hand. “Nothing like that. I have the common stuff. What’s it called now?”

Shiro watched uncomfortably as the princess pretended to think hard about something. He flicked his dark gray eyes to Nyma and was slightly disturbed to see the woman practically quaking with barely hidden excitement.

“That’s it!” Allura exclaimed with a dramatic snap of her fingers. “Kadesh.”

“You have _Kadesh?!”_ Nyma cried. She immediately slapped a hand over her mouth, but the damage had been done. Allura was grinning victoriously and Shiro wasn’t sure what just happened.

Nyma slumped in defeat, but instead of looking upset, she looked incredibly pleased. She laughed. “You’re good,” she said, winking flirtatiously at the princess. “I haven’t bargained that hard with a skilled opponent in a long time. Most of those idiots at the black market don’t care for the art of trading. They just want their junk as quick as they can get it and leave. In and out.”

Allura laughed heartily. “Well, I’m glad I made your day a bit better. I admit, you almost had me there with the eyeball.”

“I know,” Nyma said, throwing her head back and groaning. “I was so frustrated when you didn’t give in. Frustrated and glad. I wanted this to last a bit longer. But seriously though,” she said, leaning close to Allura, “you have Kadesh?”

The princess winked. “I most certainly do.”

“Oooh!” Nyma moaned, hopping in excitement. “Please give me some. You have no idea how hard it is to get your hands on that stuff.”

“Definitely. Shiro,” she said, turning to the black paladin with a smile, “could you call my brother and ask him to bring me some Kadesh from my bathing room, please?”

“Uh…” Shiro glanced between both women with no idea what to say. “S-sure,” he said finally, stumbling back out of the ship as fast as he could go. Not fast enough to miss the girls’ laughter though. He took a deep breath to banish the red he could feel on his face and activated the communicator to the Castle. “Lance,” he said, “this is Shiro. Are you there?”

 _“Hm? Shiro? Why are you calling?”_ the prince asked curiously. _“Is Allura alright? Did anything happen?”_

“No, no, everything’s fine, um. Listen,” Shiro said. “Do you think you could do me and your sister a favor?”

 _“Depends on what it is,”_ Lance said suspiciously.

Shiro could feel the heat returning to his cheeks and sighed. “Allura wants you to bring her something called, um, K-Kadesh from her bathing room.”

For a moment, the comm line was silent.

 _“Are you going to have sex with my sister!?”_ Lance shouted loud enough to make the microphone ring.

“No!” Shiro said, his face burning hot. “No! I’m not! Look, Allura just made a deal with the people here and her side of the trade is some Kadesh.”

 _“Oh,”_ Lance said, calming down immediately. _“Well in that case, sure. I’ll be right down.”_

 _“With me,”_ Keith’s voice said, ignoring the sound of Lance grunting. _“I’m not letting you out of my sight.”_

 _“I’m just going outside, Keith,”_ Lance said. _“I’ll be fine.”_

 _“Yeah, that worked so well last time one of us went outside and left the other alone,”_ the red paladin said in a wry voice.

“I agree with Keith,” Shiro said. “You’re still not fully recovered Lance. You need to take it easy for a while.”

Lance grumbled. _“Fine,”_ he groaned. _“We’ll be out there in a tick.”_

Shiro pinched the bridge of his nose and steadied himself before going back into the ship. When he did, he was surprised to see the two girls discussing the usefulness of Druid-enhanced weapons.

“They’re overpowered, if you ask me,” Nyma said. “They’re powerful alright, I’m not denying that, but it just seems like the Galra are trying to put on a show for us. It makes me wonder what they’re trying to distract us from. I mean if they really are as powerful as we all believe they are, then why all the power shows? I feel like I’m watching a bunch of boys with more pride then sense trying to decide who has the bigger, more impressive reproductive apparatus.”

“Reproductive apparatus,” Allura repeated, bending over and laughing herself silly. Even Nyma joined. “That is so accurate.”

“I bet they’re all alphas too, if you know what I mean,” Nyma said in a not-so-quiet whisper.

Allura snorted and cackled. “Don’t give them that much credit,” she said, between wheezing and laughing.

Nyma coughed and said in a deep, over dramatic voice, “Behold the power of the mighty Galra Empire.”

Alright, even Shiro was snickering now.

“All will bow to my mighty reproductive tentacles,” Nyma said in her ‘Galra’ voice.

Shiro choked. Nope. Not laughing anymore.

The princess had just barely managed to regain control of herself when Nyma said that last bit. “Tentacles,” she gasped and promptly collapsed against the side of the ship in another bout of laughter. She held her stomach and bent over. “I can’t breathe.”

“Mine are furrier than his,” Nyma said, planting her fists on her hips and puffing her chest out. “Come and see.”

“St-stop,” Allura gasped. “Please. I can’t breathe. Frelling quiznack, girl. You and I have got to get together and compare notes.”

“Oh, frak, girl, yeah. Definitely,” Nyma said. “I’ll give you my contact codes if you give me yours.”

“You got a deal,” Allura said, finally standing upright. She still leaned over somewhat. Her stomach was probably cramping from laughing too hard.

“What do you think pretty boy?” Nyma called to Shiro.

The black stiffened, wanting badly to melt into the floor.

“You think your reproductive apparatus is more impressive than Zarkon’s?”

Allura lost it again, falling to her bottom and laughing so hard tears fell from her eyes.

Shiro’s face was burning red. “I-I don’t really, um,” he stuttered awkwardly.

“Oh come on,” Nyma teased. “You gotta have an opinion.”

“I honestly, um,” he coughed. “I don’t really want to think about that.”

“Aw, you’re no fun,” the yellow alien said.

“Galra!” someone shouted outside.

Instantly, the humor of the situation vanished. Shiro ran out of the small ship activating his right arm just as Nyma and Allura came out behind him.

“Ohh,” Nyma whistled. “Speaking of Druid-enhanced reproductive apparatus.”

Shiro flushed.

“Don’t you mean reproductive tentacles?” Allura chimed in with an audible smirk.

Shiro was dying.

Nyma snorted. “My mistake. Hey handsome,” she called and Shiro just knew she was talking to him. “Nice Druid-enhanced reproductive tentacles!”

“What did I just hear?” Hunk said, staring at Shiro and the girls in shock. “Pidge. Pidge, tell me I didn’t hear what I thought I heard.”

“Nope,” Pidge said, shaking her head. “Can’t do it. I heard it too.”

“Oh my god,” the yellow paladin. “My ears are bleeding.”

“Um, is no one going to do anything about the Galra over there?” Rolo said, pointing to a flustered Keith who was deep in a passionate debate with the Altean prince.

“Oh,” Pidge said, actually looking at the so-called ‘Galra’ now. “That’s just Keith. Ignore him.”

“Keith _ek_ ,” the red paladin groaned, without breaking from his debate. Lance was plugging his pointed ears with his fingers and singing nonsense to drown out Keith’s voice. “Lance get back here. Quiznack your smeg, get back and here and say that to my face!”

“Ooh, Keith,” Lance trilled, shooting a sultry glance in the red paladin’s direction. “I didn’t know you were interested.”

“Why should we ignore him?” Rolo asked, still holding his wrench-like tool as a makeshift weapon.

Someone just kill Shiro now. Please.

“You can’t go through what you did and expect everything to be the same,” Keith said, ignoring Lance’s blatant flirting. “It doesn’t work that way.”

“So says you,” Lance said, plugging his ears and turning back to Shiro and the group. When his eye focused on Allura he burst into a smile. “Hey ‘Llura. I got the Kadesh.”

“Frak, boy, give that to me right now,” Nyma said, holding out her hand insistently.

Lance hesitated but at his sister’s reassurance, he shrugged and handed the small bottle over. The alien popped the cork and sniffed the bottle’s contents, sighing dreamily at the scent.

“Allura,” Nyma said, “I don’t care if that’s your real name or not, you just sealed yourself a deal.” She extended her hand and shook Allura firmly.

“Aren’t you a pretty lady,” Lance said with a smile.

“Why are you ignoring me?” Keith exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air. “And why the frell are you flirting with her? You don’t even _know_ her?”

“Because it’s fun, she’s pretty, and it drives you nuts,” Lance said.

Shiro deactivated his weaponized arm and rubbing his eyelids in growing frustration. This was ridiculous.

“But,” Rolo said hesitantly. “I thought you said you were fighting _against_ the Galra.”

“We are,” Shiro said. He waved weakly in Keith general direction without opening his eyes. “He’s a halfbreed.”

“A half- Woah, seriously?” Rolo gasped, staring at the red paladin with open interest. “What’s your other half?”

Keith glared at the trader in annoyance. “None of your business,” he grumbled.

“So you don’t know,” Rolo said, nodding sagely. “Want to know?”

“It’s not important,” Keith said in a voice that indicated the topic was closed.

Rolo held up his hands in surrender. “Okay, whatever you say,” he said. “But hit me up if you ever want to find out.”

“I’ll shoot myself in the foot first,” Keith said curtly.

“Ow, you wound me,” Rolo said, placing a hand over his chest dramatically.

“You guys are hilarious,” Pidge said, leaning on Rover and smirking. “Hey Shiro,” she called getting the black paladin’s attention. “How’s your Druid-enhanced reproduct-”

“Don’t finish that statement Pidge or I will ground you,” Shiro said calmly.

Pidge scoffed. “You can’t ground me,” she said, although her eyes were unsure.

“I can make your pet project disappear from the Green Lion’s hanger,” Shiro said.

Pidge froze. “You wouldn’t.”

“You sure about that?”

Even Rolo backed away from the black paladin’s expression. “Woah,” he said.

“Shiro?” Hunk said, leaning away from his friend. “Please don’t include me in that look. I’m innocent.”

“Ooh, Space Dad’s mad,” Lance crowed.

Shiro took a deep breath. “If the training gladiators suddenly jump to Level 5 at random points during training,” he said, “just remember you brought this on yourselves.”

“You wouldn’t,” Pidge said, looking terrified.

“I am so glad I’m wounded right now,” Lance said in a small voice.

“Speak for yourself, idiot,” Keith said, looking shaken despite himself.

“But I’m innocent!” Hunk cried.

“That’s actually a good idea,” Allura said, startling everyone. “I’ll tell Coran to set that up right away.”

“Shiro,” Hunk said in a small voice. “Why?”

Shiro smiled and Hunk was afraid. “Because I’m Space Dad and I can do what I want to kids who misbehave,” he said.

Scratch the killing part, Shiro thought. This wasn’t that bad of a day after all.


	16. Clear Evenings, Murky Truths

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Hunk suspects, Keith learns something he didn't expect, and a hard decision is made.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **A/N:** So it begins.

Hunk sulked by the fire. He and Pidge had decided to take a break from scouring the traders’ ship for the cause of their problems. Nothing had come up so far, so they decided a break for food was in order. Thankfully, Rolo had offered to cook while Nyma and Pidge discussed the ins and outs of building cyber-units. Pidge’s techno-crush on Beezer was a source of endless amusement for Hunk, even if Rover wasn’t too happy about it.

However, something about this whole thing felt odd. He couldn’t put his finger on it; he could just tell something wasn’t quite right. It was frustrating him to no end because he couldn’t find anything wrong.

But that was just it. He couldn’t find _anything_ wrong. At all. Not with the people, not with the ship, nothing. As far as he knew, the ship should be in perfect working order. But both Rolo and Nyma insisted it wouldn’t start.

When asked if they could show him, Nyma had rolled her eyes and gone inside. Hunk followed and watched her attempt to start the engine over and over. The screens and lights would turn on for a few seconds, flicker, then turn off. It was like turning on a flashlight with a dying battery. Thing is, this ship didn’t have a battery.

He looked up when Allura joined Pidge and Nyma’s little group and immediately tuned out their conversation. The last thing he wanted was to overhear more subjects that would make his ears bleed. He still hadn’t recovered from earlier that day. At least Shiro had relaxed a little bit.

The black paladin was standing nearby talking to Keith about something. Whatever it was, Keith seemed interested. He wasn’t focused on Shiro entirely, but he was obviously listening to what Shiro had to say. Every now and then one of his ears would twitch and Hunk had to fight back a bout of giggles.

He sighed and took a sip of his warmed up nunvill just as Lance came over and sat next to him. He hummed and quickly swallowed. “Oh hey,” he said, smiling at the prince. “You doin’ okay?”

Lance nodded and immediately winced, pressing a hand to the bandaged side of his head. He grimaced. “Just a bit of a headache,” he said. “I’m not exactly surprised, really. It’s just annoying. I hate feeling useless,” he mumbled under his breath.

“You’re not useless,” Hunk said firmly. “Hey, Lance.” He waited for the prince to look at him directly. “You’re _not_ useless. You did a lot.”

“I got captured,” Lance grumbled. “Again.”

“And kept the Galra busy so they couldn’t find Pidge,” Hunk said. “And the first time you tricked them into believing Allura was dead. You protected her and the Lions and us. That’s not useless.”

Lance stared at Hunk slack-jawed. Then he smiled and crocodile tears spilled over his cheeks. “Aw, Hunk, you do care,” he said romantically.

Hunk gave Lance a flat stare. “You’re not taking what I’m saying seriously, are you?”

The Altean sat back and twiddled his thumbs absentmindedly. “No, I am,” he said softly. “I’m just not sure how I feel about it, is all.”

“What do you mean?” the yellow paladin asked.

Lance hesitated, glancing up at Allura and Pidge then over his shoulder at Keith and Shiro before turning back to the campfire. He heaved a sigh. “I just want to go home,” he said.

Oh. Hunk slouched in depression. “Sorry,” he said. “I didn’t think about that.”

Lance snorted. “I know you’re homesick too, Hunk,” he teased. “Don’t deny it.”

“Oh, I don’t, believe me,” Hunk said, taking another sip of is drink. “But at least I have a home to go back to. You don’t,” he said sadly. “I wish I could help.”

“Altea could still exist,” the prince said. “We could find Altea again. Maybe we could even find a few Alteans still alive somewhere. We traveled the galaxies of the universe, or this portion of it at least, for centuries before the Great War. Debatably millennia, although I’m not sure I believe that.”

“What do you mean this ‘portion’ of the universe?” Hunk asked curiously, hoping to distract his friend from his dark thoughts.

Lance smiled thoughtfully. “Well, technically, the universe is infinite, or it’s basically infinite, and expanding. So there’s no way we could possibly explore the whole, entire universe. That’s not even remotely possible.” He chuckled. “But we managed to explore and map out our local galactic super cluster.”

“So, let me get this straight,” the yellow paladin said, turning in his seat to face Lance as he spoke. “When we say Zarkon rules the 'universe,' what we actually mean is that he rules this entire galactic super cluster.”

Lance nodded. “Correct.” The prince adjusted his legs so he sat cross-legged facing Hunk. “We probably have the technology to explore further, but the void separating our super cluster from the others is so great that, should something happen during the trip, we’d be completely alone without any help. No one was willing to take that risk.”

Hunk nodded, sipping his drink. “Yeah. Yeah, I can see why. Dying alone doesn’t sound like fun.”

“It’s not,” Lance said grimly.

“Why do I get the feeling you mean that?” Hunk said. “I mean, you say that like _you_ died alone.”

Lance smiled, but it wasn’t a smile Hunk liked. “I’ve just had time to think about it, is all,” he said, glancing at his sister.

Hunk wasn’t sure what to make of the conversation so he let it drop. Instead, he watched the flames with Lance. He sat up to finish his nunvill when he noticed Allura subtly palm something to Pidge. It was small and round maybe, but Pidge stuffed it into his pocket before Hunk could get a better look at it.

“Well,” Pidge said, standing and stretching. “I’m calling it a night.”

Hunk lowered his brows suspiciously.

“See you tomorrow, Pidge,” Lance said.

“You guys joining Coran and me?” she asked, tucking her hands in her pockets. Suspicious.

“Yeah,” Hunk said. “In a minute.”

“Maybe later,” Shiro said, glancing at the princess. Everyone knew he wouldn’t budge until she did. And Keith wouldn’t budge until Lance did.

“Sleep well, Pidge,” Allura said. Was it just Hunk or did she say that a bit too happily? Suspicious!

“Night.”

Hunk watched the green paladin walk back to the Castle. He glanced around subtly to be sure everyone had lapsed back into their conversations. When he was sure he could slip away easily, he stood.

“I’m callin’ it too, guys,” he said. “Night.”

“You too, Hunk?” Shiro called curiously.

“Yeah,” he said. Be subtle, Hunk. Be subtle. “I gotta go to the bathroom anyway, so yeah.”

“Too much information,” Shiro grumbled.

Hunk laughed. “You asked,” he said. Score one for Hunk. “See you.”

“You want me to save you anything?” Rolo called.

“Naw, man,” Hunk said. “Thanks though. I’ll help you with your ship tomorrow. You okay with that?”

“Sure,” Rolo said, waving at the yellow paladin. “I doubt we’d be able to fix this thing before tomorrow anyway. Better to do it with light.”

"Good point,” Keith said.

“On that note, see ya,” Hunk said, waving. His smile grew when Lance smiled and waved back.

Now, he thought, turning back to the Castle, off to solve this mystery.

* * *

 

“You sure you don’t mind?” Keithek asked.

Shiro shook his head with a friendly smile. “Not at all,” Shiro said. “Birthdays are important where I come from, too. Let me know if I can help in any way.”

The halfbreed nodded. “Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it,” Shiro said, clapping Keithek on the shoulder with his metal hand.

Keithek didn’t flinch when the cool metal touched his shoulder like he used to. He still did on occasion, but nowhere near as often as before. He’d begun to separate the Champion from Shiro. It took some conscious thought, but it was working. It was worth it, too. Shiro really was like the father figure Keithek had always wanted but couldn't have because of his status.

He hadn’t seen his birth father in cycles. Every time they managed to communicate, they’d had to keep it short and to the point. They never had much time. Keithek knew his father loved him, but it was for the best that they stayed away from each other. If his father was ever discovered, Keithek would have a chance to escape before the Galra came down on his head.

That had been the plan anyway. That quickly burned in a flash, Keithek thought wryly with a glance at Lance. When the Altean prince burst into his life with all the grace of a drunken Galra, Keithek had been thrown for a loop. He didn’t regret mating Lance, but he sometimes wondered if it had been the best decision.

Pushing his dismal thoughts back, Keithek smiled briefly at the black paladin and approached Rolo by the fire. “Hey. Do you have a tick?”

“Hm?” Rolo looked up from the stick he held over the fire. “Yeah.”

“I was wondering if I could talk to you,” Keithek said.

“Sure,” Rolo said. He grinned. “Decided to find out what your other half is?”

Keithek groaned. “I told you, that’s none of your business,” he said. “I’m interested in a trade.”

Nyma sat upright. “Mine!” she said.

“Nice try, Nyma,” Rolo said chuckling. “You got the last trade. This one’s mine.”

The yellow alien sulked. “Ugh, fine.”

Rolo stood and handed his stick to the princess. “This was about ready anyway,” he said. “Just keep it in the flames for another couple tecks until it’s crusty. It’s not the best, but it’s good. Thanks for the drink.”

“Any time,” Allura said, taking the offering and holding it over the fire.

Rolo straightened and rolled up his sleeves. “Alright kid,” he said, ignoring the way Keithek bristled at the term. “This way.”

Keithek bit back his angry retort and trailed behind the trader into the ship’s interior. Rolo stepped aside so Keithek could get a better look at the merchandise. “Take a look around,” Rolo said. “Just don’t touch anything.”

The red paladin nodded and strode passed the alien, looking at the items and plants on the shelves. He didn’t really know what the plant he was looking for looked like exactly, but he was determined to try his best. There were several plants in the ship, most had flowers of some kind on them. A couple were enclosed in glass cases but the rest were out in the open close to heat lamps.

“Anything in particular you’re interested in?” Rolo asked after a couple tecks of silence.

Keithek leaned back from the shelves flushing. “I’m not sure what it looks like,” he said eventually. “I know what it’s called, or what it _was_ called. But I’m not sure if it still exists.”

“Huh, a rare plant,” Rolo said, pushing away from the door frame to join the halfbreed by the shelves. “Well, I’ve got a two rare plants right now. What’s the name of the one you’re looking for? If I have it, we can start talking price. If not, maybe I could point you to someone who could help. Deal?”

Keithek considered the offer for a moment before nodding. “Deal,” he agreed, taking Rolo’s proffered wrist. “I’m looking for the juniberry plant.”

The twig Rolo began chewing on fell from his mouth in shock. He laughed awkwardly. “Look man,” he said, an edge to his voice, “I don’t deal drugs. I may not be the most reputable person in the universe, but I won’t stoop _that_ low.”

“Drugs?” Keithek asked in confusion. “The juniberry is a plant.”

“Yes,” Rolo said, looking at the halfbreed like he was stupid. “A hallucinogenic plant.”

Keithek lifted an eyebrow. “Lance didn’t tell me that,” he muttered.

“Lance?” the trader said, standing straighter. “You mean the one-eyed guy? He’s an addict?”

The red paladin shook his head. “No,” he said firmly. “He said his people used to eat it or drink the juice all the time. Allura mentions it too every now and then. They both think it’s gone, but I was hoping…”

“You were hoping it wasn’t,” Rolo said, nodding sympathetically. He shook his head. “Well, I don’t know any race that openly condones the use of juniberries but-”

“They’re Altean,” Keithek said.

“Okay, to the Alte- Wait, _what?_ They’re Altean?” Rolo gasped. “You mean like Altean-tales, Altean? _That_ Altean? How pure’s their blood?”

Keith blinked, looking at the trader strangely. “They’re purebloods,” he said. “It’s a long story. They said the plant had something to do with their culture and traditions and whatnot.”

“Oh yeah, it did,” Rolo said, whistling. “I mean,” he said quickly, “I don’t deal the plant but I know about it. Can’t not with this sort of job, really.” He leaned back against the shelves and crossed his arms. “The Alteans were supposedly immune to the harmful effects of the juniberry plants. The thing’s deadly to other species in high doses, but it was harmless to the Alteans no matter the dosage.”

He plucked a twig off the trillon plant on the nearby shelf and began chewing it. “Basically- and this is all hearsay by the way,” he added, “the plant was like an aphrodisiac or something for the Alteans. They’d have this huge festival and drink it and fornicate all night. That may not be _exactly_ how it worked, but that’s what I’ve gathered.”

Keithek blushed darkly and looked away. “Oh,” he said in a small voice. “So what’s it do now?”

“I don’t know what it does really ‘cause I’ve never used it,” Rolo said, "and I never will if I have my way. I know what it does to the body and it’s not pretty. You basically hallucinate and wander around in this dreamlike state for several hours, or longer depending on the dose. It’s highly addictive and almost always ends up killing the users.” He pulled the twig from his mouth and stared at it grimly. “It’s not pretty.”

“I didn’t know,” Keithek said quietly.

Rolo shrugged and bit the twig again, twirling it around between his lips. “So this Lance and Allura,” he said. “They’re Altean.” Keithek nodded. “Huh.” He shook his head. “Look,” he said finally. “I can tell you who to contact to get your hands on the juniberry plant, but you have to do me a favor.” He waited until he had the halfbreed’s full attention. “You can _not_ tell anyone I was the one who sent you. I try to stay out of the drug trade. Nothing good comes from that.”

Keithek nodded. “I’m aware,” he said. “I was a pilot under Commander Sendak.”

Rolo stiffened. “That bastard?” he groaned. “Frak, I hate that guy. He fraks everything up just because he can.”

“He’s dead.”

This time Rolo lept away from the shelves and his mouth dropped wide open. “When the frell did that happen?” he cried.

“About two cycles ago,” Keithek said proudly. “I killed him.”

“Okay, now I know you’re pullin’ my tail,” Rolo said. “Nice one, kid.”

Keithek snarled. “I'm not a kid,” he snapped. “And I _did_ kill him. He deserved it.”

“Whatever you say,” the trader said. “Look, give me a tock to go through my contacts, and I’ll give you the name of the person dealing juniberries.”

“I don’t want juniberries,” Keithek said. “I want the plant.”

Rolo snorted. “Yeah, good luck with that.”

Keithek’s ears twitched but he wisely bit back his temper. “Fine,” he said.

Without another word, he stalked out of the ship to rejoin Shiro and Lance.

“Beezer,” Rolo called from the ship. The little cyber-unity perked up from its power saver mode and buzzed, turning its camera eye to the trader. “Come give me a hand with this.”

The cyber-unit made its way over to the trader while Keithek watched. Rolo met Nyma’s curious gaze and Keithek watched them communicate silently for a moment. Although he wasn’t sure what they were silently discussing, Keithek was sure it had to do with his request.

“What happened?” Shiro asked softly.

Keithek hesitated. “I think I asked for something that was a bit more serious than I thought.”

The black paladin nodded in understanding. “I know the feeling.”

* * *

 

Rolo examined the latest postings available from his contact and sat back. If they went through with this, then there was very little chance of this tenuous friendship to grow. They were all fighting against the Galra, or so the aliens claimed. He couldn’t figure out if they were telling the truth or not as long as the halfbreed was with them.

He wasn’t stupid. He knew not all of the Galra agreed with Zarkon, but the whole thing just sounded too good to be true. Then that Altean-tale the halfbreed had told him about those two pointy-eared bipedals being Altean of all things… He shook his head and sank into his pilot’s chair. It was all just too fantastical for his jaded mind to believe.

He stretched out his legs, crossed his ankles, and crossed his arms over his chest staring at his little cyber-unit. He knew Nyma had taken a liking to that Allura person, and honestly Rolo wasn’t averse to the group either. He almost felt guilty for deceiving them.

But he knew they couldn’t keep this up for much longer. That dark bipedal in yellow definitely suspected something was up. Judging by the green one’s genius, Rolo was sure it was only a matter of time before their ruse was found out. He needed to make a decision quick.

His contact within the Galra forces was temporarily reachable, but he didn’t dare make contact first unless he had no other choice. It had taken years for the resistance to successfully get a spy so high up within the Galra’s ranks. Rolo would be damned if he destroyed all those years’ worth of hard work just because he was a little nervous.

Then there was the tallest bipedal who was always in Allura’s shadow. Rolo wasn’t blind; he would recognize that Druid-enhanced arm of his anywhere. The guy was the infamous Champion. Rolo had attended a gladiator battle or two because they drew a huge audience of potential customers. He’d also seen the Champion mow down Galra after prisoner after gladiator after challenger like they were nothing, especially since the Druids got a hold of him.

He’d suspected something had happened to the Champion when the warrior was conspicuously absent at the last gladiator battle. A quiet investigation on his part had revealed some juicy news. Apparently the Champion had escaped the Galra Sendak’s battlecruiser during transport and hadn’t been heard from since.

Rolo turned his chair to stare out the bridge windows. If he turned in the Champion, the reward would be huge and he was sure his contact within the Galra could help the Champion escape again. But was it worth it?

He needed the money. He and Nyma were dead broke after the Galra decimated their stash two turns ago. He needed a way to get currency quickly or face starvation. That wasn’t a foreign thought for him, but it would be for Nyma. She ran away with him to escape the Galra and though he didn’t love her romantically, he did see her as the sister he never had. They watched each other’s backs.

He dropped his head into his hands and pulled off his hat, scratching his hair. Whatever he decided, he’d have to do it before the Champion left for the night. He stared at the bracelet on his wrist debating his options.

Finally, he stood and licked his lips and shook himself before walking back outside. He was surprised to see the halfbreed whispering something to Lance. The way the halfbreed had been treating Lance all night had been a bit odd. Most people wouldn't be comfortable near a Galra and yet this Lance seemed entirely unaffected. After a moment, Lance stood and stepped closer to the halfbreed. He waved goodnight to Allura and Shiro before turning back to the large, white starship.

“Hey, S-Shiro, right?” he called to the Champion.

The Champion turned to him with cautiously trusting eyes. “That’s right,” he said.

“Think you could give me a hand with something? I’m cleaning up in here before turning in for the night,” Rolo said, trying to keep his nervous heartbeat under control. “It shouldn’t take too long.”

“Sure,” the Champion said. He started to walk over to the ship when he paused, looking back at Allura almost as if he was seeking her permission. Lance and the halfbreed had also stopped walking to wait for a response.

“Don’t worry about me,” Allura said smiling. “I’ll go back with Lance and Keith. Unless you want me to wait?”

“Actually,” Rolo said, “you can come too if you want. We’ll just be moving a few boxes out of the way so we can lay out our sleep mats.”

“I’ll help,” Lance said.

“No,” Keithek said, gripping Lance’s shoulder firmly. “You’re going to sleep. Now.”

Lance sulked. “I’m fine.”

“You were nodding off,” the halfbreed countered calmly. “Don’t bother denying it.”

“Don’t worry, Lance,” Allura said. “I’ll be fine. See you tonight.”

Lance pursed his lips but nodded. “Alright,” he said. “See you tonight, sister.”

“Rest well, brother,” Allura said.

Rolo bit his lip when the Champion and Allura made their way onto his ship. He hadn’t counted on the girl coming, but when did plans ever go exactly as planned? He waited for Nyma to step inside the ship too before pointing to the boxes in the back.

“We have to move those,” he said.

“No problem,” the Champion said, already moving towards the boxes with Allura.

Rolo glanced at Nyma. Her eyes held reservations but when she pressed her lips together, Rolo knew she would follow his lead on this.

In the end, he had to close his eyes before pressing the button on his bracelet, activating the homing beacon.


	17. Fog of Distraction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Pidge and Hunk play with eyeballs and Lance is cold.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **A/N:** Sorry I didn't update last night. I could feel myself falling asleep and began to suspect I would stay awake long enough to update. I wear contacts and when I'm particularly tired, my sight blurs and my contacts begin to slip around. Basically, after realizing I'd mistyped every word in a sentence to the point I no longer knew what it was I was even trying to writing in the first place, I called it a night. I made it to a little over 1,000 words though. But still...
> 
> So here's the update. Sorry it's late. -_-; Considering it's after midnight now, I'm crashing for the night. I'll edit this tomorrow morning.

“Okay, what are you up to?” Hunk said, striding boldly into the Green Lion’s hanger.

Pidge jumped a good foot in the air and quickly hid whatever he’d been hiding behind his back. She, Hunk corrected mentally. _She._ _She_ flushed and shifted from foot to foot guiltily. Hunk crossed his arms and just waited. It didn’t take long before Pidge finally caved.

“Ugh,” she groaned. “I was probably going to ask you about it anyways.” She pushed her glasses up her nose and glared at the yellow paladin. “You can’t tell Lance anything, Hunk. You have to promise.”

“What?” Hunk gasped, laughing in disbelief. “Why? I saw Allura slip whatever you’re holding to you by the fire.”

“You _saw_ that?” Pidge cried. She leaned forward, her eyes darting to the shadows in the hall behind her friend suspiciously. “Did Lance see? Please tell me he didn’t see it.”

Hunk sighed. “I doubt Lance saw anything,” he said. “He…hasn’t been himself today.”

Pidge slouched. “Yeah. I know.” She sighed through her nose and pulled the object out from behind her back. She fiddled with it for a second before holding it out for Hunk to see.

“Is that an _eyeball?”_ Hunk gasped, recoiling from the round thing in the green paladin’s hand.

Pidge rolled her eyes. “It’s a _cybernetic_ eyeball,” she corrected. “Allura traded some of her contraceptives for it.”

“Allura has contraceptives?” Hunk asked. He quickly held up a hand. “You know what? I don’t want to know. So she traded her…stuff for a cybernetic eye. I’m assuming it’s for Lance.”

“It is,” Pidge said, sitting back down on the hanger floor leaning against one of the Green Lion’s giant paws. “She’s letting me tinker with it before she gives it to him though. It’s going to be a surprise so _no_ telling him, Hunk.”

Hunk groaned and sat in front of his friend. “Why are you saying it like that?” he said. “I know how to keep a secret. I kept yours, didn’t I?”

Pidge pursed her lips and stuck her tongue out at Hunk. The yellow paladin just snickered and Pidge eventually smiled. “Yeah, you did,” she admitted. “Thanks for that, by the way. If the Garrison had found out who I was, they would’ve kicked me out and probably brought federal charges against me. It wouldn’t have been pretty.”

“Look, Pidge, someone else’s gender or sexuality has nothing to do with me,” Hunk said with a smile. “I may be comfortable in my birth gender and like only girls-”

“Or rocks,” Pidge teased with a sly grin.

“Rocks that I _admire_ ,” Hunk emphasized, ignoring his friend’s snickering, “but I’m fine with that. You do you. I won’t judge. Unless you start sexing up a robot,” he said, holding up a hand. “I draw the line there. You cross that line, I’ll officially think you’re weird. I won’t hate you, but I’ll think you’re weird and avoid you if I see you anywhere near technology.”

Pidge cackled. “Well then maybe I shouldn’t tell you about my escapades in the air vents with Rover,” she said with a suggestive wink.

“Oh god,” Hunk groaned.

“Or should I say _sexcapades?_ ”

“Oh my god, no,” Hunk groaned louder, burying his face in his hands. “Pidge, no. Please, my ears are still recovering from that whole,” he waved his hand around, “thing with Allura and Nyma earlier today. I do not need more of this.”

Pidge closed her mouth but continued to struggle with fits of giggles as she poked and prodded the eyeball.

“So,” Hunk said when he finally deemed himself as recovered as he could be, “what are you planning on doing with that thing?”

Pidge shook his head absently. “Not really sure yet,” she said. “I know it can switch between visible and infrared light based on what Nyma said. But there’s room in here for me to add some of my own stuff if I wanted to.”

“Which you do,” Hunk said.

“Which I do,” Pidge said with a grin. “But I’m not sure what I could add that would be useful. I don’t want to add too much, because then it could potentially be overwhelming. Then again,” she said, gesturing with her small tweezers, “I don’t want to have too little in here, or I’d feel like I was letting him down.”

“Lance?” Hunk asked incredulously. Pidge nodded and Hunk shook his head. “You wouldn’t be letting him down,” Hunk said gently. “He knows you care. Besides, I bet he’s not expecting anything to replace his eye. So this could be a surprise he never knew he wanted.”

Pidge shrugged. “Allura wants to give it to him for his birthday.”

“Oh yeah, that’ll work,” Hunk said. “When’s that?”

“Three cycles, give or take,” Pidge said, holding the eyeball up to the light to get a better look at it.

“Three _cycles?”_ Hunk gasped. “As in three _days?_ There’s no way.”

“Well, it is,” Pidge said. “At least,” he added softly, “that’s when it would have been if he and Allura hadn’t been put in those cryopods. I think they don’t know when their birthdays are anymore.”

Hunk looked down. Every time he was reminded of the Alteans’ circumstances, he felt small and insignificant. He knew it was a ridiculous thing to feel, but he couldn’t help it. Allura and Lance had given up practically everything in order to be here, and that hadn’t been their choice to begin with. Lance was homesick, and Hunk would bet his last midnight snack that Allura was too.

Coran was a beast all his own. Hunk knew the advisor was homesick. He could tell by the way Coran would fall into a daze, his eyes watching something far away and long ago, beyond his reach. It was painful to watch. It made Hunk wary of Coran’s cheerful attitude. He knew the Altean was suffering, but he didn’t know how to help because Coran very rarely showed his depression.

What everyone needed was a good, long group therapy session with lots of food, cuddles, tears, kittens, and puppies. Too bad there weren’t any space cats or space dogs in, well, space. Hunk always felt better after watching lots of cat and puppy videos on the Internet. Oh yeah, he remembered, there was no Internet here either.

“Do you ever miss WiFi?” he asked.

Pidge paused and looked up at Hunk like he was crazy. “What?”

“Do you ever miss WiFi?” Hunk asked again, leaning back on his hands. “I mean, I miss watching videos and checking my email and PMing my friends and Facetiming my mom and,” he sniffed, trailing off. “Pidge,” he said and he wasn’t ashamed if his voice quaked a bit, “do you want to go home?”

Pidge dropped her hands to her lap and stared at them. She leaned back against her Lion’s paw and sighed. “Yeah,” she mumbled. “I miss my mom too. I didn’t really think things through when I joined the Garrison as a guy. I mean,” she said, letting her head thunk gently against her Lion’s metal skin, “she knows I joined the Garrison, but not as a guy. She probably doesn’t even know I’m gone.”

“Mine sure doesn’t,” Hunk said. “I was suppose to call her the night after our big test in physics.”

“Yeah?”

Hunk nodded, staring up at the ceiling and the Green Lion’s huge head. “I always call her after a big test. It helps with my anxiety. I can get pretty worked up over stuff like that and listening to her voice just helps me calm down from my anxiety high.”

Pidge smiled. “I know what you mean,” she said. “Well, sort of. I always did well on tests. Group projects were the bane of my existence.”

Hunk snorted. “Aren’t they everybody’s?” he countered sarcastically.

Pidge huffed. “Yeah, I bet they are. But you were a good group buddy,” she said.

“Well thank you very much,” Hunk said.

They sat in companionable silence for a while before Hunk pushed himself up to sit upright. “Okay. What do you need me to do?” he asked.

Pidge blinked. “You want to help?” she asked in surprise. “Aren’t you tired?”

“Aren’t you?” Hunk countered.

Pidge smirked and shrugged. “I’m a night owl. I happen to know you’re a morning glory,” she said, pointing her screwdriver at the yellow paladin. “You always woke up before your alarm.”

“Yeah, and you always woke up after snoozing your alarm three times,” Hunk said in mock annoyance.

“Hey!” Pidge said, offended. “That was one time. I’d stayed up late the night before.”

“You’re staying up late now too, you know,” Hunk said.

Pidge rolled her eyes but she didn’t bother to hide the smile on her face. “Whatever.” She handed the cybernetic eyeball to Hunk. “Give it a look and tell me what you think would work with it. I’m struggling with what I _want_ to fit in there and what I can _actually_ fit in there.”

Hunk took the eyeball-  _cybernetic_ eyeball. He’d have to keep repeating the ‘cybernetic’ part in his head in order to keep his unease at bay. He turned the eyeball in his hand so he could see the mechanized iris. He swallowed thickly when he saw the deep shade of blue that stared back at him. It wasn’t the same as Lance’s but it was close enough to make him sick to his stomach.

He may not have seen that Galra freak rip out Lance’s eye in person, but he’d watched the video Pidge had Rover record make to catch himself and Coran up on what they’d missed. He’d seen Sendak hold out Lance’s eyeball, he’d watched Sendak crush it to goo. He’d watched Keith murder Sendak in a screaming fit of rage.

He’d been away. While Lance, Allura, Shiro, and Pidge had been suffering and fighting, Hunk had been with Coran on Balmera. It had been tense, but nothing like here. Hunk had even had a chance to make a friend he would see again soon. Even Coran had had fun. But here in the Castle, Hunk’s team had been suffering.

It wasn’t just Lance. Allura had worked herself twice as hard, barely taking a break to eat until Lance had woken up. Keith had just sat by Lance’s pod and then his bedside in absolute silence and waited. Shiro walked the halls, following Allura wherever she went, with the same haunted look in his eyes Hunk saw when he first met the man. Even Pidge with all her spunky attitude and teasing manner was jumpier now. Coran had doubled his efforts to get all of the Castle’s systems back online at full power. Hunk hadn’t seen the man outside the bridge or the crystal chamber since they took flight.

This was all an unhealthy mess. It had brought them all closer together and yet driven a wedge between them as well. They all had secrets, many of which were out in the open now. But they all knew Shiro wouldn’t or couldn’t talk about his time under the Galra’s control. The Alteans, who they really were, their culture, almost everything about them was a secret. Those secrets were not all intentionally kept, but they were secrets nevertheless.

“You know,” Hunk said, handing the eyeball back to Pidge, “Lance’s bayard becomes a gun, right?”

“Yeah,” Pidge said. She blinked. “Oh, I wonder if I can make a program for targeting that’ll fit in there.”

“I bet you could,” Hunk said. “It looks like the part of the cornea that’s in front of the iris and pupil is a screen. I wonder if this thing can be used like a camera once it’s wired into the brain?”

“You can work on the camera part,” Pidge said, “and I’ll start working on the targeting system. I’ve designed a few of those before for practicing at the Garrison.”

Hunk laughed. “I was wondering how you got to be so good on the fly in the simulator.” He scratched his head and winced when he felt the greasy state of his hair. “Ew, gross. I need a shower.”

Pidge snorted. “Gee, thanks for announcing.”

“You’re one to talk, you know,” Hunk said wryly.

He stood and stretched. “I’m going to go shower and hit the sack. If you see Shiro or Allura, tell them goodnight for me.”

“Sure thing,” Pidge said, waving. “If you tell Coran, I’d be interested in his opinion on this thing.” She held up the cybernetic eyeball and snickered when Hunk winced. “Remember to tell him to keep this a secret. Lance doesn’t know.”

“Secret eyeball,” Hunk said, walking out of the Green Lion’s hanger. “Got it. Night, Pidge.”

* * *

 

Lance stepped out of the silent bathing room with a towel still hanging over his damp brown hair. His skin was flushed from where he’d scrubbed it. His fingers and toes tingled slightly from the cold shower.

He wrung out as much of the moisture from his hair as he could before draping the wet towel over his shoulders. He never used to like cold showers; not until he’d bonded with the Blue Lion that is. Ever since, he’d developed a fondness for the cold. He still liked the water pouring through his hair and down his back, but every day he’d been decreasing the temperature of his water.

The Blue Lion was the embodiment of the quintessence of water from Altea, this included the glaciers in the mountains and the ice caps near the northern and southern poles. The quintessence of the Blue Lion was seeping into Lance’s body, particularly when he trained or fought. It lapped against his mind like waves on a beach, infiltrated his dreams like melting frost, and left him cold and shivering when he woke up.

Lance hissed when he rubbed the towel a little too hard over his bandaged face. His empty eye socket still stung; his whole face did really. He could tell his right eye scale was damaged as well. The bandage material was like needles scraping over the sensitive surface. It tingled and itched.

Sighing, Lance made his way over to where he knew his bed was. A soft rustling reminded him that Keith was still here. Normally the prince would tease the halfbreed mercilessly for staying by his side day and night, but it was beginning to wear on him. He cared for the red paladin, he’d never lied about that. But he did value his privacy sometimes.

“I’m going to see Blue,” he said without pausing to consider the ramification of his words. Anyway, Keith did that for him.

“You need to sleep,” Keith said, standing from his spot on Lance’s bed.

“I know,” Lance said, reaching for his clothes.

He didn’t particularly like the idea of wearing the same set of clothes again for the fifth or sixth cycle in a row, but this set of clothes was all he had left other than his flight suit. Coran had thought to lock away and save Lance’s and Allura’s flight suits, but everything else had suffered the test of time. It was only by some miracle that the sheets and blankets hadn’t rotted away.  Lance still hadn’t figured out how they’d been saved.

“I’m going to sleep in my Lion,” Lance said, stepping into his pants and buttoning them.

He was in the process of walking to his door when a hand gripped his shoulder- his _right_ shoulder. He flinched and stared at the hand before relaxing. Keith immediately withdrew his hand and stepped back as if he’d been burned.

“Sorry,” Keith said quickly. “I-”

“No,” Lance said, cutting the red paladin off before he could start apologizing. _“I’m_ sorry. You just… I didn’t see you so I-”

“You reacted,” Keith said, nodding. “I’ll try not to touch you on that side unless I know you see me coming.”

Lance sighed. “That’s not…” He closed his eye and ran a hand through his wet hair, tossing the towel aside. “That’s not what I meant,” he said. “I’m sorry. I’m just overstimulated is all. And cold.” He wrapped his arms around himself in a self-hug. “And avoiding things, people, person.”

“Me?”

“What? No, not you,” Lance said, shaking his head and scratched his bandages, immediately regretting to action. “My father and…him.”

“Your father?” Keith repeated. “I thought he was dead.”

“He is.”

“You’re not making any sense,” the red paladin sighed in frustration.

“No, probably not,” Lance said, a teasing grin on his face. “I guess you’ll just have to be a confused little fluffy-eared paladin for a while longer.”

“My ears are not _fluffy!”_ Keith cried, his face flushed and his ears twitching in embarrassment.

“Take a shower, Keith,” he said over his shoulder. “You stink.”

“I do not,” Keith grumbled.

Lance just laughed and strolled out the door into the hallway leaving his mate behind. He had to consciously avoid the holodeck. He hadn’t seen or spoken to his father since the incident with Sendak. He wasn’t sure if he was ready for that. Blue. He needed to be with Blue right now. He needed her presence in his mind.

When he looked up, he saw Blue in all her glory sitting calmly in her hangar bay. Something rustled in the back of his mind accompanied by a cold that seeped into his veins. Lance shuddered, still not used to being cold all the time. Nevertheless, he couldn’t leave now that he was here. He couldn’t leave her.

Blue activated on her own, lowering her head and opening her mouth, offering him entrance to her cockpit. He didn’t hesitate to walk in and climb the short ladder into the cockpit. Honestly, he probably couldn’t have hesitated even if he’d tried. She was calling to him. He would never be able to refuse her.

When Lance stepped into Blue’s cockpit, the screens remained dark but a few basic instruments turned on, glowing a soft aqua. He sat in the pilot’s chair and pulled his legs up so he could curl into the comforting seat cushions. He shivered as the cold began to seep into his bones. Strangely, this cold didn’t feel intrusive or uncomfortable. It was a soothing cold that enveloped him like a blanket. Was there such a thing as a soothing cold?

The Blue Lion purred in his mind with enough power behind it to vibrate his entire body. She was here. She would always be here. She filled a hole in his heart, his very being, that he never realized was there before.

He wondered absently if any of the other paladins were aware of how deep their bond with their Lions was. Did they feel the element the quintessence embodied by their Lion moving within their veins like Lance did? Did they feel it sweeping them away? Maybe it was time for Allura to teach these paladins how to deepen and embrace their bond with their Lions and with each other.

That was the last clear thought he had before nodding off to the lullaby of Blue’s purring and cool mental presence.


	18. Cold Sinks, Heat Rises

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Rolo makes a deal, Coran notices something amiss, the Lions give chase, and the Blue Lion just wants to play.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **A/N:** With this, I'm calling it a night. I'll edit it seriously tomorrow as usual. Enjoy y'all and goodnight.

“You’re having second guesses,” Nyma said, glancing at her best friend with hard eyes.

She watched Rolo hunch over the ship’s controls. “They weren’t bad,” he said slowly. “They were nice. I mean, _real_ nice.”

“Yeah,” Nyma said reluctantly. “They were.” She looked over her shoulder to where their two captives sat. “You’re sure it’s him? The Champion?”

“Definitely,” Rolo said, nodding seriously. “He’s hard to miss. Besides, I confirmed it from Beezer’s records.”

The cyber-unit buzzed a confirmation and Nyma sighed, gripping her controls. “Then let’s get this over with,” she said.

Rolo nodded and opened a secured channel allowing the main view screen to sputter to life. He lifted his eyes to the Galra in the view screen.

“I thought I told you not to contact me unless it was important,” the Galra said, glancing to either side nervously.

“We have a prize I think your boss would be interested in,” Rolo said.

The Galra furrowed his brows. “What is it?” he asked hesitantly.

“We have the Champion,” Nyma said. “And one of his friends. We couldn't get the others but we know where they're headed: Balmera X-95 Vox.”

The Galra stiffened, his yellow eyes wide in shock. He looked over his shoulder and called, “Commander. I think you need to hear this.”

“What is it?” a gruff voice demanded before another Galra stepped into the view screen. This Galra was slightly larger than the first, furrier, and had decorations on his uniform that the previous Galra did not. “This had better be good,” he grumbled.

“We have the Champion,” Rolo said, swallowing the bile in his throat. “I understand there’s a prize for whoever retrieves him alive.”

The Galra commander grinned. “There is,” he said. “I assume you want it.”

“We want something else too,” Rolo said. “See, we have a bit of a checkered past. Some of the Empire’s property may or may not have wound up in our possession at one time or another.”

“I see,” the commander said. “And you want this to disappear.”

“Yes,” Rolo said.

The commander nodded. “Consider it done.”

“We want the reward too,” Nyma added.

The Galra smirked. “Of course. I’m relaying coordinates now,” he said, gesturing for the first Galra to type something into the computers. “Meet us there and we’ll make the exchange.”

“Sounds good,” Rolo said. He glanced at the first Galra before quickly looking away and closing the connection.

“That was risky,” Nyma said.

Rolo nodded. “I know,” he agreed. “Let’s hope this little venture was worth it.”

* * *

 

Coran was in the middle of tweaking the deep space scanners when he received an alert in the form of a benign beeping. Since it wasn’t urgent, he didn’t turn his attention to it right away. When he finally did, the Altean letters flashing by the signal were confusing. As far as he knew, the green and yellow paladins had not finished working on that ship yet. It should not be able to take off and yet there it was, leaving the planetoid’s atmosphere.

Maybe the traders managed to fix the ship on their own. But leaving without a single goodbye or thank you? Young people these days, he thought while shaking his head. No manners at all.

Ah well. Nothing he could do about it now. He opened the Castle’s layout and studied the life signs inside. Pidge and Hunk showed up as green and yellow colored signals from the Green Lion’s hanger. Coran chuckled, nothing surprising there. He was certain those two would stay up all night tinkering with their latest experiment if given the chance. He would make a point to pop down there and nudge them off to bed.

The young prince’s signal flashed blue from the Blue Lion’s hanger, specifically the Blue Lion’s cockpit. What was Lance doing in there? Why wasn’t he in bed resting? He wasn’t fully recovered yet. The healing pod managed to heal the most severe injuries and stop the bleeding, but the psychological damage would remain. Some things couldn’t be fully fixed by a healing pod; they required good, old fashioned time to heal.

Coran pulled up the Blue Lion’s activation records and noticed the great beast had woken from her standby mode a little less than a half tock ago. She registered her paladin in her cockpit. Intrigued, Coran studied the prince’s life sign a little closer, tapping the flashing blue light and read the Altean lettering that flash across the screen.

Ah, yes, that explained it. Lance must have fallen asleep in the Blue Lion’s cockpit. Coran had never been a paladin nor did he want to be, but he had known the previous two generations of paladins. They all spoke of the intense bond between Lion and paladin; the sharing of quintessence, the psychic meld, the entangled emotions.

Chuckling to himself, the advisor left the sleeping prince’s life sign alone and continued to scan the Castle for the other inhabitants’ life signs. He found the halfbreed’s red signal flashing in the bathing room, _Lance’s_ bathing room. Coran clicked his tongue. Honestly, that boy was incurably smitten. Keith hadn’t had the chance to begin courting the prince as far as the adviser was aware, but he seemed to get along with Lance fairly well. Coran wished the boy luck. Lance may flirt, but Coran highly doubted the prince would be ready for anything deeper than that for a while.

Then again, Coran thought, glancing back at the prince’s signal, he had been wrong before.

Sighing, Coran began scanning for the princess’s and the black paladin’s life signs. He checked the entire Castle. Then he checked again. Confused, the adviser expanded his search to include the area immediately outside the Castle on the planetoid’s surface. Nothing. But that didn’t make sense.

The adviser quickly checked the logs to see if any pod had left the Castle unauthorized. He didn’t bother checking the Black Lion. The Lion could hardly go missing without somebody noticing. It wasn’t exactly what the average person would call subtle. Not in the least. Still, he came up empty.  Every pod was accounted for, including the escape pods and healing pods.

He sat back in his chair on the bridge and stared at the view screens. It didn’t make sense. There was no way for Shiro or Allura to leave the Castle or the planetoid without being noticed. So then how…?

Movement on the screen to the far right caught his attention and he glanced over at it out of habit. It seemed the traders’ ship was beginning to leave the planetoid’s orbit now. Coran shook his head and turned back to the main screens, only to look back at the traders’ ship's signal once more. What if…?

Just out of curiosity, Coran adjusted the scanners to focus on the traders’ ship. It was a long shot, but it was the only option he could think of that he hadn’t checked. If Shiro and Allura were there, what would he do? What _could_ he do? He was just the adviser. He wasn’t a warrior by any means.

Both Shiro’s and Allura’s signals flashed to life on the view screen originating from the traders’ ship.

“It may be nothing,” Coran said to himself. “I could be overreacting. They could be checking to be sure the ship is working properly before coming back to land. Nothing serious.”

But why hadn’t they called in what they planned to do to alert Coran?

The adviser bit his lip and opened a channel to the small trading vessel.

“Hello,” he said. “This is Chief Adviser Coran. Please reply, trading vessel.”

Static followed by a sharp pop and silence. They'd cut him off. Those dirty rancors had kidnapped the black paladin and the princess!

“Paladins!” Coran shouted into the Castle’s speakers. “Allura and Shiro have been kidnapped. I repeat, Allura and Shiro have been kidnapped!”

 _“What the fuck?”_ Pidge voice answered. _“We literally just got a break. Are you freaking kidding me?”_

 _“Shiro!”_ Hunk cried.

 _“Frelling jurt. They couldn’t wait ‘til I got out of the shower?”_ Keith’s voice groused.

 _“Coran,”_ Lance's voice said, cutting through the other voices sharply. _“Open the Blue Lion’s hangar door. I’m going after them.”_

 _“So are we,”_ Hunk said firmly.

 _“Lance, wait,”_ Keith called. _“What about your eye?”_

 _“Open the door, Coran,”_ Lance said. _“That’s an order.”_

Coran agreed with Keith. Lance was much too tired for the battlefield but an order was an order. In this case, the adviser doubted there would be much fighting. One small vessel against the Lions wouldn’t constitute much of a fight. For that reason, and that reason only, Coran acquiesced to the prince’s command and opened the Blue Lion’s hangar door.

He watched as the Blue Lion leapt out of the Castle, onto the planetoid’s surface, then into the sky blasting through the atmosphere. The Green Lion was ready to depart next so Coran opened that door as well. Then he opened the Yellow Lion’s door and finally the Red Lion’s door. The Green and Red Lions caught up to the Blue Lion, followed closely by the Red Lion.

There was nothing Coran could do now. He couldn’t fly the Castle of Lions; it wasn’t attuned to his quintessence. The only pilot the Castle would recognize was Allura. Perhaps if something happened to her, it would recognize Lance. It would probably never acknowledge Coran as its pilot. That thought never bothered Coran, until now that all he could do was wait and watch. It irked him to no end.

* * *

 

Lance pushed Blue much harder than he normally would. But this was for Allura; this was for his sister. He couldn’t fail her. Blue’s growl of agreement echoed in his mind. She wasn’t the fastest of her pride, but she was fast and she was a deadly shot. With the prince as her paladin, the Blue Lion couldn’t miss.

The Green Lion’s paladin quickly located the small ship darting through space towards the nearby asteroid belt. The Blue Lion increased her speed as much as she could. If she wanted to stop that vessel before it slipped into the asteroid belt, then she would have to hurry. However, the closer she got, the more she began to realize she wouldn’t make it. Even the Red Lion couldn’t catch up with the vessel at this point.

Lance blinked and shook his head to clear his head. For a moment he had literally been the Blue Lion. He had felt her emotions, thought her thoughts, he had _been_ her.

 _“Lance!”_ Keith’s voice rang through the Blue Lion’s speakers. _“Frak it all, Lance **answer** me!”_

“I…I’m fine,” Lance said. “I just, um, merged with the Blue Lion there for a tick.”

 _“Merged?”_ Hunk asked, appearing on the view screen to Lance’s left.

 _“You can do that?”_ Pidge gasped.

Lance grinned. “You all can. When we get back to the Castle with my sister and Shiro, we’re going to start bonding,” he said.

 _“Please tell me bonding doesn’t require what I think it does,”_ Hunk groaned.

“Don’t know what you’re thinking Hunk,” Lance said wryly, “but if the bonding works, then I’d have at least some idea.” He watched the trader’s vessel enter the edge of the asteroid belt and cursed. “Quiznak. I can’t maneuver in there,” he said, pulling his Lion up short.

 _“We could try plowing through it,”_ Hunk said and flew the Yellow Lion directly into the nearest asteroid. He barely made a dent in it, but from the paladin’s voice, Hunk would certainly have a dent _. “Okay,”_ the yellow paladin mumbled. _“That didn’t work. Bad idea. Very bad idea.”_

“I can’t get a good shot in either,” Lance groaned, watching the vessel dart around asteroids. Maybe if he had both eyes he could pull it off. But as it was, he was crippled. Alright then, time for plan B.

“Keith,” he said, “your Lion is the fastest and most agile. I need you to fly in there and give me a clear shot. Can you do that?”

 _“You bet I can,”_ Keith said, sounding eager.

 _“I’ve got them on my tracker,”_ Pidge chimed in _. “I can give directions to you Keith if you need me to.”_

 _“I might,”_ the red paladin answered. _“Keep track of both of us. Give me his location when you can.”_

_“Roger.”_

_“My name is Keithek, not Roger,”_ the red paladin groused.

 _“Roger isn’t a name,”_ Hunk said. _“Well, it is, but it’s not… You know what? Nevermind.”_

Lance shook his head and watched as the Red Lion darted into the asteroid belt without listening to the yellow paladin’s explanation. Lance flew his Lion around the asteroid belt until he hovered above it. He was having trouble keeping track of Keith and the kidnappers.

 _“Man, I knew something wasn’t right about those guys,”_ Hunk grumbled, flying up to join the prince in the Blue Lion.

“Then next time you think something isn’t right, tell someone Hunk,” Lance said turning to the yellow paladin in the left view screen.

The yellow paladin shrugged self-consciously. _“I wasn’t sure if I was right or just on edge from the past few days,”_ he said.

 _“On your nine o’clock, up forty-five degrees,”_ Pidge said, giving directions to the red paladin. Or at least, that’s what Lance thought she was doing. He’d never heard of directions like that before.

 _“What the frell does that mean?”_ Keith demanded in exasperation. Apparently, the halfbreed hadn’t heard of directions like that either.

 _“Left and up, Keith,”_ Pidge said urgently. _“Left and up! Move it!”_

 _“Quiznak,”_ the red paladin cursed, dodging behind a small asteroid to avoid several bolts of purple, condensed plasma.

 _“Yeah, we’re going to have to exchange direction instructions and stuff ASAP,”_ Hunk grumbled.

 _“You’re tellin’ me,”_ the green paladin muttered. _“On your five, twenty degree- Ah, fuck it. Behind you and above!”_

Lance winced, gripping his controls when the Red Lion executed a perfect spin, rolling onto its back and firing a blast at the kidnappers’ vessel.

“Careful, Keith!” Lance cried. “Aim to disable, not destroy. Shiro and my sister are still on board.”

 _“I know,”_ the red paladin grumbled. _“I’m not stupid.”_

“Then aim better,” Lance said.

 _“I’d like to see you do better,”_ Keith snapped.

“Get him out so I can get a clear shot and I will.”

“Is that a challenge, your highness?” Keith growled.

Lance smirked. “I don’t know, is it?”

 _“Bitch, it might be,”_ Pidge said, snickering. _“Get their ship up above that large asteroid so Hunk can whack it.”_

 _“Me?”_ Hunk gasped.

“Good idea, Pidge,” Lance said. “Hunk, when Keith gets that ship clear of the asteroids, hit it with the Yellow Lion. Then I’ll take it out.”

 _“Just don’t hit me,”_ Keith said.

Lance smirked. “Maybe later.”

 _“Boys, save the flirting for later,”_ Pidge said. _“Anytime, Keith.”_

Keith pounced on the vessel, knocking it around the large asteroid. It didn’t clear the asteroid belt because they fired reverse thrusters. When the Yellow Lion slammed into it, the smaller ship tumbled through the asteroid field and Lance waited. His finger hovered over the trigger as he watched the kidnappers’ ship tumble through space.

This shot had to count. He couldn’t miss. If he accidentally destroyed the ship, then he could kill both Allura and Shiro. That was unacceptable.

He hesitated.

Frigid water enveloped his mind, submerging his consciousness in an ocean of ice cold liquid. He opened his eye and was stunned when he felt two eyes open. He gasped and felt a purr ripple the liquid around him. Blue. This was the Blue Lion’s mind.

Lance relaxed himself, concentrating on loosening the bonds holding him to his body and immersed himself as deep into the Blue Lion’s consciousness as he dared. They stared at the small, tumbling ship through the Blue Lion’s eyes and took the shot.

Their aim was perfect. It hit the ship’s engine, disabling it without causing it to explode. The two weapons towers on what they assumed was the ship’s roof swiveled around to aim at them. They laughed at the pathetic attempt and blasted both towers cleanly from their mounts. The ship was defenseless.

No one stole a member of their pride. Ever. Their pride was their life. They flew towards the disabled vessel, dug their claws into the ship’s outer hull, and dragged it back to the tiny planetoid. They dumped the dented thing on the ground and landed next to it, batting it playfully. They’d won. It was exhilarating and they wanted to celebrate.

Heat.

The sudden change in temperature startled them. They hopped back from their newfound toy and turned to their pridemate. The Red Lion stood in front of them, the heat radiating off of it in suffocating waves. They wanted to quench that eternal fire in their overwhelming cold.

No. No, they didn’t. They didn’t want that.

…right?

The Red Lion moved closer and they moved back, dropping low on their haunches. Did the Red Lion wish to play? Maybe they did. They flicked their tail, retracting their claws, and pounced catching the Red Lion’s haunch with their paws. The Red Lion dodged to the side, and flicked its tail in annoyance.

No? It didn’t want to play? Too bad. They did.

They grinned and skipped to the side, batting at the Red Lion’s tail teasingly. The Red Lion snapped at them and growled, beginning to take them seriously. Yes. Play with them. They wanted to play.

They settled down on the ground and waited patiently for the Red Lion to turn away. It never did turn its head away entirely, but that was all well and good. The Red Lion’s tail swished in front of them like a tempting treat. How could they resist?

The snapped their jaws around their pridemate’s tail and tugged, laughing when the Red Lion lost its balance and fell onto its side. They planted a clawless paw on the Red Lion’s leg and quickly bounded away, waiting for their pridemate to follow. When they turned back to watch their new playmate chase them, they were surprised to see no trace of the Red Lion. They looked on either side of them and behind them.

A shadow fell on their face and they looked up. Too late. The Red Lion landed on top of them and clamped its jaws around their vulnerable neck, pinning them in place beneath their pridemate. No fair. They only wanted to play. They struggled to get away but the Red Lion just tightened its jaws and laid down, letting all of its considerable weight settle on the Blue Lion’s back.

_“Lance!”_

Lance? Why call that name? Their paladin was here with them. They made a sound that was halfway between a purr and a growl, flicking their tail and struggling against the Red Lion’s grip.

_“Submit!”_

Submit? Never. They would never submit. Not to anyone. They just wanted to play. Why wouldn’t their pridemate play?

_“Lance.”_

They stiffened. That voice sounded familiar. The Red Lion’s paladin? Why was he-

_“You will submit to me, Lance. You’re **mine**!”_

Wha-?

Their sight tunneled and Lance blinked back to himself. His entire body felt heavy as if he was pinned to his chair, unable to move. Something pressed against his chest, compressing it to the point that breathing was a chore. He couldn’t move and it terrified him. The cold flooding his body retreated slowly, tempered by heat that burned like fire.

_“Lance! Do you hear me?”_

He tried to answer but couldn’t. Speaking meant breathing which was beyond him at the moment.

_“Lance, **answer** me.”_

Quiznak, he was _trying_ to. He couldn’t.

 _“I’ll come in there,”_ Keith said. _“You hear me? Answer me or I’ll come in there.”_

Lance tried to will himself to move, but he couldn’t. His body was too heavy. If he could just breathe.

“…Keith,” he wheezed. “…’m here.”

 _“I’m coming,”_ Keith said. _“Just hold on.”_

“…’Llura?”

 _“She’s fine,”_ Keith said. _“A bit banged up and mad as a Magog, but she’s fine. Shiro’s with her.”_

Lance twitched. “Good.”

He felt his eyelids grow heavy. The more he fought whatever was pinning him in place, the more tired he got. Blue purred and the blanket of soothing cold draped over his mind and body once more. He closed his eyes, and felt himself fall into the cold.

But not before something searing hot touched his skin.


	19. Heated Discussions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Allura is not happy, Pidge is a little shit, Coran is knowledgeable about stuff, and Rolo isn't sure what to make of all this insanity.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **A/N:** I fell back to snark and fluff for this chapter as well as some explanations. The angst hasn't come back in full yet. I guess you get a break from it for a bit longer.

She came to when something fell on top of her, knocking the wind out of her. Her eyes flew open, shutting almost immediately when her senses were assaulted by light, sound, and movement. Her arms were held behind her back by a pair of metal shackles and she was inside some kind of ship. That much she could tell immediately.

When she could open her eyes again, Allura gasped and looked around her. Shiro had been what landed on her, protecting her from a box that had fallen from the pile behind them. It had struck her black paladin’s back and fallen to the side. Shiro’s arms were braced on either side of Allura’s body using his own body as a shield.

“Shiro?” she gasped.

“I’m fine,” Shiro grunted. “You alright?”

The princess nodded, staring up at the paladin for a moment longer. His hands were free. She wriggled her own wrists, testing the metal’s strength. After a tick, she gave up. “Cut me loose,” she ordered. “We’re getting out of here.”

Shiro sighed and shook his head. “I don’t think we’ll be going anywhere right no-”

Something slammed into the ship they were in, throwing them across the floor to slam into the far wall.

“What the quiznak?” Allura cried.

Shiro sat up quickly and activated his mechanical arm. “Stay still,” he said, waiting for the princess to nod before slicing through the metal binding her wrists. “You good?”

Allura nodded, pulling her aching arms back to their proper position and rubbing them gingerly. “Yes,” she said, looking around her warily. She braced herself when the ship shuddered violently again, this time with a shouted curse. “What is going on here?” she demanded.

“They tricked us,” Shiro said, helping the princess to her feet.

When he was sure Allura could stand, he turned his attention to the ship’s small bridge where their kidnappers sat doing their best to control the flight. He grabbed one of the shelves welded to the ship’s walls with one hand and Allura’s slim waist with his other.

“Nyma?” Allura breathed, recognizing the yellow skinned alien she’d traded with.

“And Rolo,” Shiro said, nodding to the ship’s main pilot.

Allura fumed. “How dare they-”

She started towards them when Shiro grabbed her and pulled her back into his arms just into time for another jolt to rattle the small craft. A glass case flung free of its straps and crashed to the floor nearby.

“What is going on here?” Allura demanded loud enough for everyone to hear her.

“Frak,” Nyma cursed, looking back at them before returning her focus to what looked like weapons controls. “Rolo, they’re awake!”

“I don’t... Jurt it all,” Rolo snapped. “Don’t pay attention to them. Pay attention to that red lion. Frakin’ pilot’s got some serious skills.”

“Red Lion?” Allura gasped, lifting her eyes to the view from the bridge’s windows as well as the view screens.

Sure enough, a bright red lion darted across the view too fast for Nyma to shoot down, expertly moving from asteroid to asteroid. It vanished from view, only to reappear in the view screen as a flashing alert. A tick later, something slammed into the ship again, tossing them around.

“Hunk!” Shiro cried.

Allura looked back at the screens long enough to see the hulking image of the Yellow Lion fly directly for them.

“Hang on!” the black paladin said, pressing the princess to the racks and covering her with his body.

When the Lion impacted the ship, they were sent hurtling through space in an erratic tumbling motion that would have had Hunk puking his guts everywhere. Rolo managed to slow the roll only for something to hit the engines, knocking them out altogether.

“What the-” Rolo cried. “Where the quiznak did that shot come from?!”

Something struck the ship again and this time it was Nyma who shouted in fury. “Frak, my guns are out!” She slammed her fists against the controls. “How the hell did that thing shoot us down?”

Metal scraped against metal in a loud, offensive sound that made all of their ears hurt. The next moment, the ship they were in was dragged through space until a familiar planetoid filled the ship’s view screens. Rolo sighed and bowed his head, pulling his aviator’s hat off and covering his face with his hands.

“Well,” he said reluctantly, “I guess this means we lost.”

Nyma sat in her seat, dumbstruck by the sudden turn of events. Rolo felt his stomach drop. He didn’t like the idea of suffering the consequences of what they’d just attempted to do, but he liked the idea of Nyma taking the brunt of it even less. He unbuckled his seat belt and stood when whatever was carrying his ship finally dropped them on solid ground. He turned to his former captives and held up his hands in surrender.

“Look,” he said slowly. “I’m sorry about what we did. But you have to understand, we-”

He never got the chance to finish when something smacked against the ship, knocking the whole thing on its side. Shiro once against covered Allura with his body, protecting her from the falling debris. This was getting ridiculous, Allura thought peeking out from her makeshift shield. She saw Rolo, Nyma, and Beezer all piled against the wall which was now the floor given the ship’s new angle.

“You okay?” Shiro asked worriedly.

Allura nodded. “I’m getting very annoyed with being tossed about like a toy, though,” she replied, crawling free of her paladin’s arms. She carefully made her way to the forward windows and stared out. She was stunned to see the Blue Lion tug on the Red Lion’s tail like a kitten.

“Lance?” she breathed in confusion.

She watched as the Red Lion took flight and landed on the Blue Lion’s back, its jaws clamped firmly on the Blue Lion’s throat pinning it to the ground. She quickly looked down at the ship’s controls and started looking for the communicator.

“Hey, quiznaks,” she shouted at the traders’ turned kidnappers. “Where’s your frelling communicator?”

“Wha-” Rolo’s voice cut off when Allura heard the familiar sound of Shiro’s weaponized hand activate. “On the left by the altimeter,” Rolo called out submissively.

Allura didn’t need to look back to know their would-be kidnappers were subdued for the time being. She climbed up what was currently the side of the ship up to the altimeter, pressed what she hoped was the communicator, and began shouting orders.

“Don’t hurt him!" she said. "Keith, don’t hurt him. He’s not himself. I think the Lion is in control.”

 _“What the quiznak does that mean?”_ the red paladin’s voice replied, sounding strained and concerned.

“I’ll explain as soon as I can, but don’t hurt Lance, please,” Allura pleaded. “Call him. Try to call him back. Coran, can you hear me?”

 _“Loud and clear, princess,”_ came her trusted advisor’s reply. _“What do you need?”_

“Are Pidge and Hunk out there too?” Allura called.

 _“We’re here, princess,”_ Pidge said.

 _“Is Shiro with you?”_ Hunk asked.

Allura nodded habitually. “Yes, he is,” she answered out loud. “He has Rolo and Nyma in custody at the moment.”

“I should’ve known the metal wouldn’t hold against your quiznaked arm,” Rolo muttered.

“I’d be quiet if I were you,” Shiro warned in a cold voice.

Allura chanced a look over her shoulder and decided this wasn’t the time or the place for this. “Coran, I need you and Hunk to keep an eye on the ship,” she ordered. “It won’t be going anywhere but I don’t want anyone slipping out of here either.”

 _“Understood, princess,”_ Hunk said.

 _“What do you need me to do?”_ Pidge asked.

“I need you to help me and Shiro out of here first. We can’t reach the latch by the door with the ship lying the way it is,” Allura said. “Can you do that?”

 _“Sure thing,”_ Pidge chirped.

Allura listened to the sound of little feet land on what was currently the top of the ship followed by the sound metal slicing through metal. Everyone looked up to the current roof to see a red hot slice through the door. Rolo was not happy about the damage.

“My ship!?” he cried. “Don’t-”

“After what you did to us, do you really think talking is a good choice right now?” Shiro warned.

“I’d get out from under this if I were you,” Pidge shouted through the slice.

The black paladin grabbed Rolo by his jacket collar and Nyma by her arm and dragged them towards to rear of the ship so they were all clear of the damaged door’s landing.

“Ready when you are,” he called up the green paladin.

A tick later, a huge metal claw pierced the door and yanked it off its hinges. Rolo teared up at the sight.

“My ship,” he moaned.

Shiro rolled his eyes and dropped the idiot to the floor. He strolled up to the opening when Pidge landed on the metal side and stuck her head through the hole upside down.

“Hey, Pidge,” he said, with a smile.

“Don’t ‘hey, Pidge’ me, Space Dad,” Pidge groused to Shiro's mortification. “You and Space Mom should know better than to go running off and leave the kids behind without telling anyone. Coran was distraught.”

Shiro’s face was flaming red and Allura’s eyebrow was twitched.

“Space Mom?” the princess repeated, caught between annoyance and amusement.

“Geez,” Pidge muttered loudly, “you guys-” She cut off and sat up, pulling her head out of the hole to yell something to someone outside. “I’m going to drop my bayard down there and haul you up.”

“Alone?” Allura asked, earning herself patronizing look.

“What do you think?” Pidge groaned.

“I don’t want to hurt you or anything,” the princess said, dropping down from the bridge’s controls to the floor and walking up so she stood next to Shiro. “If you’re not strong enough, you don’t have to-”

“Well, _excuse_ me _,_ princess,” Pidge said, exaggerating the word ‘excuse’ to the amusement of the black paladin. Pidge snickered and winked at Shiro. “Someone got the reference,” she said. “I guess you’re not that hurt then. Grab on.”

Pidge activated her bayard and slung the buzzing green blade down so it embedded itself in the current ceiling by the welded shelves. “Use those shelves as a ladder,” she said. “Climb as high as you can, then use the cord to get the rest of the way up.”

“You got it,” Shiro said. He looked at the princess and held out a hand. “Ladies first.”

Allura sighed and walked up to the shelves. She used Shiro’s outstretched arm to keep her balance while she stood on the bar and hopped up to catch the bar above her. A quick swing and a kick and she looped her feet over another bar. Hanging by her hands and feet, Allura made her way over the bars to Pidge’s bayard.

“You must’ve played on the monkey bars a lot as a kid, huh?” Pidge teased.

“I have no idea what a monkey bar is,” Allura said, adjusting her grip so she could grab the bayard cord. “But that had better not have been an insult.”

Pidge cackled. “Well if it was, then I think I just insulted myself too.”

“Are you guys always like this?” Rolo asked from where he sat on the floor still. Shiro had to admit, the trader pilot looked rather pathetic like that surrounded by the broken and tossed remains of the items he once valued.

“No,” Shiro said, a teasing grin on his face. “Normally we’re worse.”

“You included yourself!” Pidge crowed. “You can’t take it back. Hey Hunk! Shiro just admitted to being insane like us!”

A loud whoop was audible even inside the ship and Shiro facepalmed. “Why are all you acting like spoiled, rotten kids?” he groaned.

“Because we can, Space Dad,” Pidge snarked.

“Please don’t call me that,” Shiro said.

“Too late," Pidge said. "You’re turn. Climb up.”

Shiro shook his head and began his trek up and out of the ship’s damaged door.

“Wait,” Nyma cried, standing quickly. “You can’t just leave us here.”

“Watch us, bitch,” Pidge said.

“It’s not permanent,” Allura said from her place on top of the ship. She glared down through the hole at the traders. “It’s just until I decide what to do with you. In the meantime, Hunk will keep an eye on you.”

“Hunk?” Nyma said. “You mean the yellow one?”

A giant Yellow Lion leaned its head over the hole and stared down at a now cowering Rolo and Nyma. _“Someone call me?”_ Hunk’s voice said through the Yellow Lion’s speakers.

“You have _got_ to be kidding me,” Rolo said.

 _“You know,”_ Hunk said _, “you probably should have thought about this before you betrayed us.”_

“We did,” Rolo said, lifting his eyes to the princess and Pidge while Shiro climbed out through the damaged door. “We did this because we had to. We didn’t have much of a choice.”

“Yeah, that’s what they all say,” Pidge said, sneering at the pilot.

“It’s true,” Rolo said fiercely. “It’s been years fighting against the Galra that led us to this life in the first place. You think we turn in other people for the fun of it? What are you, Galra?”

“If we were, you’d be dead,” Pidge said, glaring.

“Pidge,” Shiro said, placing his metal arm on the infuriated green paladin. “Take it easy. We’re all okay. No real harm done.”

“Yeah, tell that to Lance,” Pidge said.

“Lance?” Allura gasped. “What happened to him? Is he alright?”

“I don’t know. You tell me,” Pidge said, freeing her bayard blade from the inside of the ship and allowing it to retract back to the handle before deactivating it. “You seemed to know what was going on when he went all hyper kitten on Keith’s ass.”

 _“Literally,”_ Hunk added. _“Dude, who knew right?”_

The princess sighed heavily. “I’ll explain once we get inside,” she said. “Hunk, keep your communicator on. I’m going to contact Coran and ask what he thinks we should do with them.” He looked back down into the ship making it clear whom she was referring to.

Rolo stood in the reddish light shining through the hole and met the princess’s gaze seriously. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I am. You don’t have to believe me. I don’t expect you to. But if you plan on punishing us, then leave Nyma out of this.”

“Rolo-”

“It was my idea,” he said louder, holding up a hand to stop Nyma’s argument. “I made the decision, she went along with it. I take full responsibility.”

Shiro sat back and looked up at Allura. The princess’s held herself stiffly with a mask of detached calm on her face. Eventually, she nodded. “I’ll take your request into consideration,” she said. “If none of my people were harmed in this debacle, then I’ll be lenient.”

“You aren’t our princess,” Nyma shouted, standing next to Rolo. “You can’t command us.”

“Says you,” Pidge said.

“What planet are you from?” Rolo asked. “I’ve never met a race like yours.”

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” Pidge said, smirking. She stood and climbed back into her Lion’s open mouth. “I’m going to check on Keith and the Blue Lion. It looks like the Blue Lion has gone into standby mode for no- Oh! Huh. Well, shit.”

“What?” Allura asked, turning around to where the Red and Blue Lions were. “What is it? What’s going on?”

“It’s Keith,” Pidge said, holding her communicator close to her ear. “He says there’s something wrong with Lance.”

“What’s wrong with him?” Shiro asked.

“Let me talk to Keith, please,” Allura demanded, holding out her hand for Pidge’s communicator.

 _“I have him on my communicator,”_ Hunk said. _“I can put him on speaker, too, so we can all hear him if you want.”_

“Do that, Hunk,” the princess said.

“Um, hello,” Rolo called up. “Still here.”

“Shut up,” Pidge quipped.

“Ouch. Rude.”

 _“Princess? Are you there?”_ Keith’s voice called over Hunk’s speaker.

“I’m here, Keith,” Allura said. “Can you hear me?”

_“Yeah.”_

Allura crossed her arms and fought the urge to pace. “I need you to tell me exactly what’s wrong with Lance,” she said.

 _“Uh, he’s cold,”_ Keith said. _“By cold I mean freezing. And his eye is open but he’s not responding to anything.”_

“You said his eyes were open?” Allura said.

_“Yes.”_

“Are his pupils- his pupil- responding to light?” she asked, stumbling over her words.

_“Let me check.”_

Everyone waited silently while Keith worked.

 _“Yeah, it is,”_ Keith said at last. _“But he doesn’t blink when I wave or snap my fingers in front of his eye.”_

Allura bit her lip. “Coran are you getting this?” she said suddenly.

 _“I am, princess,”_ the adviser said over Hunk’s speaker.

 _“Well this is the first conference call I’ve ever made before,”_ Hunk said.

"Wow, really?" Pidge asked, bewildered.

 _“It sounds like he came back from a meld too quickly,”_ Coran continued as if Hunk had never spoken. _“Try not to wake him, Keith. You said he’s cold.”_

_“Yes, he is. He’s like ice.”_

_“Then stay close to him,”_ Coran said. _“But whatever you do, do **not** try to wake him. He has to wake up on his own. If he starts shivering, warm him up. But otherwise, leave him be.”_

 _“And he’ll be okay?”_ Keith said. _“He’ll wake up?”_

 _“Technically, he is awake,”_ Coran said. _“He’s just not in his own mind right now. He’s deep in his bond with the Blue Lion. He has to come out of it on his own.”_

 _“Hey, um, not to be a Debbie Downer here, but how long will this take?”_ Hunk asked warily.

“Why?” Allura asked.

 _“Coran and I made a promise to the Balmera,”_ Hunk said. _“We said we’d be back there within a week to perform the energy exchange thingy. It’s already been almost four days.”_

“A week?” Allura repeated uncertainly.

“A turn,” Shiro said.

Allura nodded and bit her lip. She looked down to their prisoners below in thought. “We don’t have much time, then,” she murmured.

“As much as I would like to,” Shiro said, drawing the princess’s attention, “we can’t just leave them here like this. It’s inhumane.”

Pidge sulked. “I hate it,” she muttered, “but I agree with Shiro.”

 _“Well, we can’t let them wander around the Castle either,”_ Hunk said. _“We’d just be asking for another Sendak.”_

 _“I’ll kill them first,”_ Keith hissed.

“That won’t be necessary,” Allura said over their prisoners’ cries of shock. “Coran, could you get two prison pods ready?”

 _“You’re going to put them **next** to Sendak?”_ Keith exclaimed. _“Are you **asking** for trouble?”_

“Unless you have a better idea, Keith,” Allura said in curt, clipped tones, “this is the best option. I won’t leave them here to die. Besides,” she added, “it’s our fault that their ship is damaged this badly.”

“They shouldn’t have kidnapped you then,” Pidge said.

 _“Agreed,”_ Keith said. _“You should all go to the Balmera without me and Lance.”_

 _“What?”_ Hunk cried.

“The fuck, Keith? No,” Pidge snapped.

“We won’t leave you-  _either_ of you- behind,” Shiro said firmly. “That didn’t work out well last time and I’d rather not test our luck this time either.”

 _“Please don’t give me a heart attack,”_ Coran chimed in. _“I’m not as young as I used to be.”_

“Then we have no choice,” Allura said. “I guess they’re coming with us for the time being. We’ll deal with them after we free the Balmera from the Galra.”

“Free the Balm- Are you guys frelling insane?” Rolo shouted from inside his ship. “You can’t free a planet from the Galra. You either repel them when they first invade- good luck with that by the way- or you die resisting, or you bow your head and deal.”

“Weakling,” Pidge said derisively.

“Excuse me?!” Nyma shouted. “Like you know anything.”

“I may not know about intergalactic tyrants trying to take over the universe,” Pidge said, “but I know a thing or two about crazy lunatic tyrants murdering thousands or millions of innocent people just because they’re different, enslaving others, and conquering the rest just because they can. We’ve had a few from our planet. Most of them are dead now. There’s a reason for that too. We don’t stand for crazy, power-hungry, murderous tyrants. Especially crazy, power-hungry, murderous _space_ tyrants.”

 _“Space Nazis,”_ Hunk said. _“And we all know what happened to those guys.”_

Pidge smirked. “We need a nuke.”

 _“No!”_ Hunk said loudly. _“No, Pidge. No nukes.”_

“Aw,” the green paladin said sulking. “You’re no fun.”

Shiro blinked and shook his head. “I’m surrounded by crazy people,” he said.

“Join the club Space Dad,” Pidge said.

 _“Yeah,”_ Hunk said laughing. _“Oh, and welcome to the family, Space Mom.”_

“I am _not_ your mother,” Allura said indignantly. “I’m much too young for that.”

“Space Mom!” Pidge cheered.

Down below in the damaged ship, Rolo looked at Nyma and gulped. “We’re going to die,” he said in a small voice.


	20. Burning Ice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Keith worries, Lance gets warmed up, Rolo doesn't trust the Castle's tech, and Team Voltron arrives at the Balmera.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **A/N:** For all of you patiently reading and waiting for the klance to begin, I present this chapter. Read and enjoy. As for me, I'm going to try to get some sleep while my next door neighbors throw a party with loud music, banging, and general obnoxiousness that's all audible through our shared wall. *buries face in pillows* Insufferable jerks.

Keithek crouched by the Blue Lion’s pilot seat watching Lance closely. The prince’s chest rose and fell at a steady, even pace and his eye was open and responsive to changes in light. No matter what Keithek had tried, nothing seemed to pull Lance closer to the waking world. Coran said he had to just wait. It was maddening and frustrating.

There was no way it was healthy for Lance to be as cold as he was. Keithek had only ever touched dead bodies that had the same temperature as the prince’s skin. It made no sense. Keithek was certain that a normal person would have begun to shiver by this point, but Lance remained still.

He stood from his crouch and placed a hand on Lance’s unbandaged cheek- the skin under his palm was cold. Seeing Lance in this state bothered him. It just didn’t fit with what he knew of the Altean. Ever since Keithek had first met Lance, the prince had been open with his emotions, never hiding what he was thinking or feeling. Keithek had begun to wonder if Lance was even capable of hiding things.

His thoughts were derailed when the chilled skin beneath his palm moved. He blinked and looked down at Lance’s face. The prince’s eye had closed and he’d turned his face into the red paladin’s hand in a weak nuzzle.

Keithek immediately placed his other hand on the side of Lance’s neck over his Mark and rested his forehead on his mate’s. He wanted so badly so call Lance back from wherever his mind was but Coran had ordered him not to. Then Lance shivered and Keithek stopped resisting. He gathered Lance into his arms and slid into the pilot seat taking the prince’s place. He settled his mate comfortably in his arms so Lance’s head rested against his chest under his neck and began rubbing his mate’s arms to warm him up.

After a few ticks, Lance’s eyes fluttered open but he didn’t pull away. Instead he cuddled closer into the red paladin’s warmth and tilted his head back tickling Keithek’s neck with his soft hair.

“Keith?” he called softly.

“I’m here,” Keithek answered just as softly. “Are you okay?”

Lance hummed and shuddered. “Cold,” he muttered, snuggling closer to Keithek. “What happened? Is Allura-”

“She’s fine,” Keithek said. “She’s with the others.”

He felt Lance nod slowly. “What about Rolo and Nyma?”

“Allura’s putting them in the prison pods, last I checked,” Keithek said. “Their ship is too badly damaged to leave them here alone.”

Lance sighed. “Won’t…forgive them,” he murmured drowsily.

“Stay awake,” Keithek said, nudging Lance gently. “I get the feeling Allura wants us to move the Lions back into the Castle as quickly as we can. We need to get to the Balmera.”

Lance quickly roused himself and sat up, pulling away from Keithek’s heat. “Right,” he grumbled, rubbing circles gingerly over his temple.

“Headache?”

The prince shook his head and winced. “No, just a little foggy,” he said. He turned in his seat and his eye widened when he realized he was sitting in the red paladin’s lap. “Um, Keith?”

“You were cold,” Keith said, a faint blush in his cheeks. “Coran said I should keep you warm if you started shivering.”

“Oh,” Lance said in a small voice.

His cheeks burned a brilliant crimson that the Red Lion would be proud of. His eye skipped away from where he was sitting in Keithek’s lap to the red paladin’s face, then his lips. His blush darkened and he looked away, moving to stand up. Keithek narrowed his eyes and tightened his grip preventing his mate from leaving.

“Wha- Keith?” Lance gasped, placing his hands on the red paladin’s chest.  “What are you doing? Let go.”

“Not yet,” Keithek said, never looking away from Lance’s face.

“Keith,” Lance said, trying to push one of Keithek’s hands resting on his waist away so he could stand, “let me go.”

“Lance,” Keithek said sternly, reaching up with the hand Lance hadn’t grabbed and taking the prince’s chin between his fingers. He turned Lance’s head so the prince had no choice but to look at his face. “Kiss me.”

“Wh-what?” Lance gasped, laughing in disbelief. “You can’t be serious. We need to get back to Allura.”

“Coran made me promise not to make the first move,” Keithek said, overriding Lance’s voice. “So you have to do it first.”

“This isn’t the time or the place, Keith,” Lance said, trying to pull away from Keithek’s grip.

“Do you want me to stop?” the red paladin asked sincerely.

Lance stilled. “No,” he murmured.

“Then make the first move.”

Lance’s eye flickered down to Keithek’s lips then back up to his eyes. He swallowed. “Just a kiss?” he asked. “Nothing else?”

“Nothing else,” Keithek promised.

The prince sighed and hesitantly leaned forward so his lips brushed Keithek’s softly. He never got the chance to pull away. The hand that had been gripping his chin buried in his hair and held him in place, startling a muffled cry from him. An arm wrapped around his back and pushed him so his chest was flush against Keithek’s. The hand on his back settled between his shoulder blades and spread out so the fingers could scratch his back through the fabric of his shirt.

* * *

 

The kiss was surprisingly deep. Lance’s mouth was filled by Keith’s tongue and, though he still had misgivings about this whole thing, he couldn’t deny that it did feel good. He was surrounded by warmth that leeched into his body, chasing away the lingering cold that welled from deep inside him.

Kissing Keith was like kissing fire. It burned and soothed leaving his skin tingling and hypersensitive. Heat seeped into his back through his shirt and was breathed into him through the kiss. He shivered and whimpered.

Hot. It was so hot. The cold within him was creeping over his consciousness and only Keith’s warmth was keeping it at bay. The Blue Lion purred in his mind and his breath caught as the chill frosted over his senses. His arms slithered up between their chests and cupped Keith’s face, tilting his head to deepen the kiss further. He needed the heat or the Blue Lion’s cold would freeze him alive.

Don’t stop. Don’t stop. Please don’t stop. Stay here.

He shuddered and gasped, breaking the kiss. He could feel the cold melting with every searing touch from his mate. It sent tremors zinging up his spine. What he would give to have his other eye back, he thought, opening his one eye to gaze at Keith. Just the red paladin’s gaze was a flame that Lance both feared and needed. He wanted to gaze into that flame clearly.

Keith was a fire that could kill and destroy just as easily as it could warm and soothe. By kissing Keith, Lance was allowing himself to court danger. Strangely, that thought didn’t bother him as much as it probably should have. He knew Keith would never deliberately hurt him. Fire never deliberately harmed after all. It simply did what it always had and always would do: it burned. If something got burned, it was because it got too close to the flames and paid the price.

Lance was willingly placing himself close to the flames and hoping they wouldn’t burn him. So far they hadn’t, but how long would that luck last? The Blue Lion growled in his mind sending another pulse of cold into his chest which in turn forced him to dive back into the kiss to melt away the cold.

This hadn’t been the plan. Lance hadn’t meant to give in so easily. But the heat… It was right there, all around him, and he wanted it. He _needed_ it. He moaned when another wave of ice crawled through his veins only to thaw under Keith’s fiery touch. He was losing himself.

He had to stop. It was too soon. He needed to slow down. There were things that needed to be done. Things he had to see to.

Later.

_“Keith.”_

Allura’s voice was like a lightning strike to Lance’s mind. “Allura?” he gasped, perhaps a bit more breathless than he meant to be.

_“Lance! You’re awake.”_

“I, um, I am, yes,” Lance said, hyper-aware of Keith leaning forward to rest his head on the prince’s neck with an annoyed groan. “Are you alright?” he asked, trying to ignore the red paladin's movements.

 _“I’m fine,”_ his sister said. _“Shiro and I are taking Rolo and Nyma to the prison pods. Pidge is temporarily disabling their cyber-unit so it doesn’t cause any trouble.”_

“That’s good.” Lance’s eye widened and the hairs on the back of his neck rose when a tongue brushed his Mark. Keith wouldn’t dare. “Do you need me to bring the Blue Lion in?” he asked.

Keith _would_ dare. Lance had to take a deep breath and hold it when Keith scraped his teeth teasingly over his Mark, licking up Lance’s neck to his ear.

 _“Yes, please,”_ Allura said over the Blue Lion’s inner speakers. _“We’ll be heading to the Balmera as soon as we can.”_

Lance’s eye rolled back and he let his head fall to the side, baring the side of his neck and his ear to Keith who readily devoured the shell of his ear. “I can do that,” he said after a moment.

 _“Lance,”_ Allura said seriously. _“Are you alright? Really? Did you merge with the Blue Lion?”_

Lance nodded, belatedly remembering his sister couldn’t see him. Thank quiznak. “Yes,” he sighed, sliding one hand into Keith’s hair and gripping it tight. “I’ll be fine. I’m just cold.” He hummed. “Be there soon.”

 _“Good,”_ she replied. After a moment she spoke again. _“Keith, you had better not be kissing my baby brother.”_

Keith stiffened and Lance sighed gustily. “You’ll pay for that, ‘Llura,” Lance said in a strained voice.

 _“Get your sorry self back here and tell me to my face,”_ the princess said primly.

Lance reluctantly pulled away from the red paladin’s mouth. “We'll be there soon,” he said.

_“I’ll be waiting.”_

Keith groaned. “That woman-”

“Is my sister, so watch your words,” Lance said, glaring mildly at the red paladin.

Keith yanked him back into a lingering kiss that Lance couldn’t help but return. The prince tightened his grip on the red paladin’s hair before running his fingers through the strands. He opened his eye and glanced quickly up at the halfbreed’s ears. He let his eye close again when Keith nipped his tongue teasingly.

As payback, Lance moved his hands up through Keith’s hair until his fingers brushed those ears. When he began massaging his ears, Keith made an adorable strangled sound that Lance gleefully swallowed. His laughter was muffled by Keith’s mouth when the red paladin pulled him closer.

However, their positions were less than comfortable for this game. Lance was situated on Keith’s lap so his right side brushed Keith’s body. He’d managed to twist his torso so that he could face the red paladin as best he could. But his legs were still pinned between Keith’s right knee and the armrest of the chair and he couldn’t tug them free with so little leverage to work with.

“We need to stop,” Lance said, breaking the kiss. “Before my sister comes in here.” He nuzzled Keith’s cheek, brushing the warm skin with his nose. “Or worse, Coran.”

Keith grumbled and pulled Lance in for one more kiss, nipping the prince’s lip when he let go. “Fine,” he breathed against Lance’s mouth, smirking when the prince instinctively leaned closer to the warmth. “I think I’ve warmed you enough for now.”

Lance’s face burned and he scrambled out of Keith’s lap. “I’ll just, um, fly the Blue Lion back to the hanger,” he said. “You should do the same with the Red Lion.”

“I should,” Keith teased, grinning.

“Get out of my chair and do it, you idiot,” the prince order, flustered.

The red paladin shrugged and stood, striding confidently out of the cockpit to the Blue Lion’s exit ramp. “Let me know if you ever want to be warmed up again,” he tossed over his shoulder.

“You wish,” Lance muttered. The chill was still there, like an ice core, but the rest of the prince’s body was warm and comfortable. The Blue Lion rumbled in his mind and he got the distinct impression that she was laughing at him. “Don’t you start too, Blue,” he said.

She didn’t stop making that sound the whole flight back to the hangar.

* * *

 

“These things are safe, right?” Rolo asked, staring at the cryopods lining the hallway in the bowels of the Castleship. “I mean, thanks for not killing us earlier,” he said quickly, “but I hope you didn’t spare us then to freeze us to death now.”

“It’s perfectly safe,” Coran said, typing in a code that should have activated the first pod. Instead, nothing happened. “Hm, strange.”

“Strange?” Nyma said, eyeing the pod suspiciously. “Strange doesn’t sound safe.”

“What is it, Coran?” Allura asked, stepping up to her advisor and leaving the two captives in Shiro’s capable hands.

“Well, it’s odd,” Coran said, leaning back from the keypad and studying at the cryopod itself. “The pod should have turned on, but it didn’t.” He shook his head. “I guess we should add that to the list of minor issues we’re having.”

“Issues with the Castle?” Shiro asked. “You never mentioned that before.”

Coran shrugged. “Well, it wasn’t much of a problem before,” he said casually. “Just minor nuisances. Probably due to the Galra installing their crystal into the Castle and corrupting the system.”

“We need to clear as much of the Galra crystal’s influence from the systems as possible,” Allura said. “Can you get any of the other pods to work?”

“Well, that’s just it,” the advisor said, turning his gaze to the princess. “This is the last cryopod I’ve tried. The others aren’t working properly or aren’t working at all. Some probably won’t work because they haven’t been properly maintained but the ones that do work are sporadic and I wouldn’t trust them to be safe yet.”

“You said they were safe!” Rolo cried, leaning away from the cryopod like it was going to bite him.

Allura sighed and crossed her arms. She turned to her prisoners, dropping her eyebrows low over her eyes in a frown. “I guess you got off lucky this time,” she said. “We’ll confine you both to a room until we finish with the Balmera.”

“How do you know we won’t try to escape?” Nyma asked warily. Rolo nudged her and shook his head.

“Because if you did, then you’d be flying right to the Galra,” Allura said with a sly grin. “And I’m pretty sure that’s not what you want.”

Nyma’s shoulders drooped in agreement. Allura lifted her eye to her black paladin and nodded to him. “Take them to the training arena and turn on the invisible maze. That should keep them busy while we deal with things out here.”

Shiro’s eyes widened and he chuckled. “Yes, ma’am,” he said. He took Rolo’s elbow in one hand and Nyma’s in the other and pulled them down the hall to the lift, which would take them to the training arena on the upper floors.

When Shiro and the prisoners were out of earshot, Allura turned back to her adviser. “Do you think this is the Galra crystal’s influence, or his?” she asked quietly, glancing at the only active cryopod in the hall where Sendak was kept.

Coran narrowed his eyes and looked over his shoulder at the frozen Galra commander’s pod. “I think it’s the crystal,” he said slowly. “We haven’t tried moving Sendak’s consciousness to a memory core yet. He shouldn’t be able to affect the ship in his current state unless we do that.”

Allura pursed her lips and nodded. “Keep an eye on him,” she said.

“I most definitely will,” Coran said sincerely.

* * *

 

“Is that it?” Pidge asked, staring at the enormous asymmetrical thing filling the Castle bridge’s forward view screens.

“Yeah, that’s it,” Hunk said standing from his paladin pilot chair.

“It looks…like a desert down there,” Shiro said hesitantly.

Hunk nodded. “It does. It’s alive, but the Galra’s mining is killing it.”

Coran pulled up life sign readings from the Castleship’s scanners and overlaid it on the Balmera’s visible appearance. “As you can see,” he said, gesturing to the colors displayed on the screens, “it’s not doing well at all. The poor thing is definitely suffering. I’d say at this rate, it won’t be long for this world.”

“No,” Allura whispered, gazing up at the Balmera heartbroken.

“We’re not going to let that happen,” Hunk said. He turned to face the princess and his team in determination. “We’re going to save the Balmera and we’re going to save Shay. Coran and I promised them we’d do this.”

“We know, we know,” Pidge teased, holding her clasped hands up to her cheek in mock adorable. “Your girlfriend needs her brave knight in shining armor to come swoop in in his Yellow Lion and save her.”

Hunk shot his friend a flat look. “I’m serious, Pidge,” he said.

“I know you are,” she said. “I’m just messing with you.”

“We’re ready to help any way we can,” Shiro said, studying the readings from the Balmera on the view screen. “I'm guessing the surface is covered with mining equipment.”

“It is, but most of the Galra troops will be inside the Balmera,” he said, turning to the screen. He joined Coran by the controls and pointed at a few locations on the image. “These are some of the mining holes. There are tunnels that connect these and run throughout the inside of the Balmera. We’ll have to do something to lure the Galra out so we can attack them.”

“Why can’t we just go in there and blow them up? That'd be a lot easier,” Keith said, ignoring the look of amused disbelief Lance was giving him.

“Because the Balmera is alive,” Allura said. “If we accidentally hit it with our weapons, we risk harming it and the enslaved Balmerans inside. It would be a massacre.”

Keith flushed and looked away. “Oh, sorry. I didn’t think about that.”

“I think that is the main power generator,” Coran said, pulling up a zoomed in image of a black metal fortress with purple energy arching across a row of conductors. “If you destroy that, the Galra should come to the surface without a problem.”

“Keep an eye out for that tower though,” Keith said, pointing to the tower at the far end of the power generator. It had three spikes at the top that glowed with the same purple energy as the energy that arched across the main building. “It’s a weapon. It’s powerful, but not as powerful as an ion canon. But that also means it doesn’t take as long to recharge between shots.”

“Good to know,” Allura said. “You can take care of that then. Coran and I will remain in the Castle in the cloud cover. We’re still working on removing the influence from Sendak’s crystal so our power levels and systems aren’t at full yet. We won’t be much help to you I’m afraid.”

“Okay, but how will we know if all of the Galra come to the surface or not?” Pidge asked.

“She’s right,” Keith said. “The real Galra won’t come up to the surface if they can help it. They’ll send the sentries up instead.”

“Not to mention the fact we’ll have to differentiate between the Galra sentries’ signals from the Balmerans',” Hunk said.

“If we use the Biothermal Life Indicator Point Technology,” Allura began, pulling up a holographic image of a small, egg-shaped device from her controls, “then we'll be able to do just that. We’ll also be able to track their movements and any potential road blocks as well.” She grimaced. “Unfortunately, that means one of you will have to fly around the Balmera and drop the devices into the tunnels personally in your Lion.”

“I can do that,” Pidge said, raising her hand. “I was able to upgrade the Green Lion while Lance was recovering with the invisible maze's cloaking technology. I can fly around the Balmera in stealth mode and drop the BLIP Techs that way while you guys take care of the power generator.”

“BLIP Techs?” Allura asked in confusion.

Pidge adjusted her glasses and looked at the princess strangely. “It’s an acronym,” she said slowly. “We use those for words or phrases and stuff that are too long or too much of a pain to say. Biothermal Life Indicator Point Technology is a mouthful. BLIP Tech is easier.”

“You’re telling me,” Hunk said snickering.

“I have to agree with you there,” Shiro said with an indulgent smile.

“I see,” the princess said. She blinked and shook her head. “BLIP Tech it is then, I suppose.”

“Alright,” Shiro said. “I’ll take care of the main power generator then. Keith, you worry about that tower weapon. Lance, Hunk, you guys work on disabling the mining rigs around the area and Pidge, you get those BLIP Techs into place.”

“Yeah!” Hunk cheered. “Okay guys, let’s do this! Let’s go kick some alien butt!”

 “You humans have the strangest way of saying things,” Lance said with a teasing smirk.

“Says the alien,” Pidge snarked.

“Hey,” the prince said, “who’s the alien here?”

“I don’t know,” Pidge said, tucking her hands in her pockets. “Who’s getting their butt banged up?”

“WOAH NANANA LALALA NOT LISTENING!!!” Hunk shouted, slapping his hands over his ears.

“Calm down you two,” Shiro said, although a blush was coloring his cheeks. “Save your energy for the battle. You were able to nap on the way here so hopefully you’re all awake enough for this.”

“I could use some coffee right about now, but otherwise I’m fine,” Pidge said.

“Oh man, coffee,” Hunk said sighing dreamily.

Shiro sighed too, startling the group. “What I’d give for just one cup of the stuff,” he mumbled.

Hunk and Pidge winced. “Okay, that’s settled,” Hunk said. “We’re making a pit stop back on Earth to get some coffee.”

“I’m behind that 100%,” Pidge said.

“Coffee will be our prize for winning,” Hunk said, holding out his fist to Pidge. “Brofist.”

“You betcha,” she said, meeting Hunk’s fist with her own. She smirked and tossed Lance a teasing wink. “Well, coffee for us humans. You aliens will be too busy getting your butts bange-”

“LALALA!” Hunk said, yanking his fist back and covering his ears with his hands. “BROFIST TAKEN BACK! NOT LISTENING. MY EARS AREN’T BLEEDING!”

Shiro sighed heavily and gazed skyward wondering what madness dropped him into this crazy family. He didn’t regret it one bit.


	21. Cool Darkness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the assault begins, the Lions have secret weapons, Shiro hates falling, and Hunk meets some old friends and enemies.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **A/N:** This is a slightly shorter chapter than usual and I'm sorry. I'm just seriously tired and have work tomorrow. Meh.
> 
> However, I've gotten a few questions regarding the characters' ages. Their general appearances aren't that different from the show like Pidge is still short, but Lance has pointy-ears. That sort of thing. But I've aged them up a bit. These are their ages in Earth years:
> 
>  **Shiro:** 28  
>  **Hunk:** 21  
>  **Pidge:** 16  
>  **Keith:** 21  
>  **Lance:** 21  
>  **Allura:** 25  
>  **Coran:** 47
> 
> Hope that helps clear up a few things. Because honestly, I can't think of any military branch that will admit high schoolers as active officers. The Galaxy Garrison is very likely a military college working side by side with civilian scientist. That's much more believable.

The moment the Black Lion burst out of its launch tunnel and into the Balmeran sky, the Galra began their attack. The smaller towers that marked the start and end of every arcing purple energy beam fired blasts of similar purple energy at the Lions of Voltron.

“This is it, guys,” Shiro said. “Look alive.”

 _“We **are** alive,”_ Keith said, sounding confused.

 _“It’s a phrase, Keith,”_ Hunk said.

“Remember the Balmera is a living creature,” Shiro continued. “Pinpoint your attacks on the Galra equipment only. Good luck.”

 _“Roger,”_ Hunk said as the same time Pidge said _“10-4.”_

 _“Your phrases are so weird,”_ Keith said.

Lance laughed. _“Why don’t you focus on taking out that tower weapon instead of complaining, Fluffy Ears,”_ he teased.

 _“You call him Fluffy Ears?”_ Pidge said and began cackling madly, diving her Green Lion down and cloaking before the Red Lion could snap at her.

 _“I will kill you,”_ Keith growled in annoyance.

“Guys,” Shiro groaned. “Focus.”

The main tower weapon finished charging and fired a burst of solidified purple energy that formed a three spired pinwheel like the tower it originated from. The glowing attack spiraled straight at the Blue Lion, which dodged to the side and dove down to join the Yellow Lion in attacking the Galra mining equipment. Shiro slowed his Lion until it hovered near the power generator.

Lance was doing a magnificent job taking down the smaller Galra tower weapons with the plasma gun in the Blue Lion’s tail. Hunk was ramming his Lion into the heavier machinery, weakening the structures before blasting them with the Yellow Lion’s mouth gun. Pidge was cloaked and off dropping the BLIP Techs while Keith was expertly dodging enemy fire and focusing his attention on the power generator’s main weapon. It was up to Shiro to thoroughly disable the generator.

“Okay,” he muttered to himself, “how do I take this thing down?”

As if responding to his question, the Black Lion growled in his head, startling him. Then the screens in front of him lit up with purple schematics for a curved blade that fit snugly in the Black Lion’s massive jaw. The razor sharp blades extended out from either side of the Black Lion’s mouth. With this, Shiro could cut through reinforced steel with ease.

“Oh,” he said, leaning back in his chair to study the weapon’s designs. The Black Lion purred and, like a rush of wind, Shiro _knew_ how to activate this new weapon. The corners of his mouth twitched upwards until he smirked. “Well alright then. Jaw Blade it is.”

He took his controls, pressed the combination of buttons the Black Lion purred into his mind and grinned when the Jaw Blade materialized in his Lion’s mouth. He flew his Lion down so he skimmed the Balmera’s surface and dragged the left blade of the Jaw Blade along the sides of the glowing structures that created the arching energy beams. The gouges he left behind caused the main structure of the generator to combust, exploding in balls of fire and smoke that brought a triumphant smile to his face.

However, Keith hadn’t taken out the Galra’s main tower weapon yet. It seemed the tower was much more heavily reinforced than the power generator itself. Shiro shook his head at the irony. It would be typical of the Galra to choose their weapons over energy production. He prepared to join the Red Lion when he saw something he couldn’t believe causing him to pull the Black Lion up short in shock.

Without warning, the Red Lion executed a perfect loop so it faced the Galra weapon, opened its mouth wide, and fired a stream of blazing liquid fire directly at the tower’s tapering trunk. The heat from the blast melted a hole straight through the metal that continued to glow red hot even after the fire dissipated.

 _“Did you see that?!”_ Keith shouted victoriously. _“I have fire power!”_

 _“No freaking way,”_ Hunk cried.

 _“Well, that explains that,”_ Lance muttered in a voice that was barely audible over the speakers. _“I wonder if I have something like that?”_

 _“All BLIP Techs dropped, pri- Katie,”_ Pidge said, catching herself before saying the princess’s title or name over the unsecured channel.

 _“Good job, Pidge,”_ Allura said. _“The devices are starting to map out the interior as we speak.”_

It was probably due to their distraction that the other paladins didn’t notice it first. However, Shiro didn’t miss the way the semi-melted tower leaned to the side and began collapsing under its own weight.

“Guys, look out!” he cried, flying his Lion towards the ground again. He had to stop the debris from striking the Balmera.

 _“Wha-? Crap!”_ Hunk cried, flying underneath the tower before Shiro could and taking the brunt of the weapon’s weight on his Lion. The Yellow Lion’s paw thrusters ignited, giving him some leverage but nowhere near enough. _“We can’t let this hurt the Balmera! Gah! Do something!”_

“Hang on, Hunk,” Shiro said. “I’m coming.”

 _“Wait,”_ Lance said suddenly. _“Hunk, get out from under there. I think my Lion knows what to do.”_

 _“Well, whatever it is, do it fast,”_ Hunk shouted in a strained voice.

Shiro stopped abruptly when the Blue Lion flew directly in front of him, catching him off guard. “Lance-”

Whatever he was going to say trailed off when a ray of blue burst forth from the Blue Lion’s open mouth and struck the collapsing tower Hunk was struggling to hold up. Immediately upon impact, ice began growing up over the tower’s surface, encasing it completely. Hunk looked up and quickly flew away from the fast encroaching ice before it could consume him as well.

 _“Dude,”_ Hunk said.

 _“That was…”_ Keith murmured.

 _“I’m really starting to like this,”_ Lance said with an audible smile on his face.

“Nice going, Lance,” Shiro said in relief.

 _“Yeah, whatever,”_ Pidge said, joining their group. She landed her Green Lion on the ice covered tower and looked up at her companions disdainfully. _“You guys have all the fun while I run the errands. Typical.”_

Shiro chuckled. “Don’t get too excited,” he said, landing his Lion next to Pidge’s. “We still have to deal with the Galra.”

 _“Yeah, about that,”_ Pidge said. _“There aren’t any Galra coming up here.”_

 _“Where are they?”_ Lance wondered aloud.

 _“I don’t get it,”_ Hunk said. _“When Coran and I were here, the Galra were everywhere.”_

 _“Paladins”_ Allura called from the Castle. _“We’ve located a hangar with Galra fighters. We can’t let them launch if we can avoid it.”_

“They’re luring us underground,” Shiro grumbled. “We’ll probably end up fighting hand-to-hand. I doubt our Lions will fit down there.”

 _“Keith and I can take care of the hanger, Katie,”_ Lance said. _“By the way, that name totally suits you.”_

The sound of Coran’s sputtering laughter filtered through the communications.

 _“Don’t volunteer me,”_ Keith groused.

 _“Why not?”_ Lance teased. _“Would you rather go with Pidge?”_

 _“Hey,”_ Pidge said. _“What’s wrong with that?”_

“Guys,” Shiro said, rolling his eyes. “Save the flirting for later.”

 _“HA!”_ Pidge cackled. _“See? Shiro called it. It’s official. You can’t deny it.”_

 _“Why would I?”_ Keith asked honestly. _“Lance is my mate. We can flirt if we wa-”_

 _“By Pele, stop,”_ Hunk groaned. _“Please just stop.”_

“Lance, Keith, you two go take care of the fighters in the hangar,” Shiro commanded. “Pidge, you and I will track down the Galra soldiers and get rid of them. Hunk, find your friend Shay-”

 _“Girlfriend,”_ Pidge teased.

 _“No!”_ Hunk said.

“-and make sure she and her family are safe,” Shiro continued, raising his voice to be heard over the commotion. “Ask them how to perform this energy exchange process so we can start on that as soon as we can.”

 _“You got it,”_ Hunk said, diving the Yellow Lion into one of the nearby mining pits.

The others quickly follow their given orders and Shiro breathed a sigh of relief. He would definitely have to give his team a talk about not goofing around while fighting. They couldn’t afford distractions right now. He landed the Black Lion at the bottom of one of the mining shafts and prepared to continue the way on foot.

That was the _plan_. But then his chair slid back on the rails on its own and then dropped down into a hidden trap door at the far back of the room directly behind the Lion’s cockpit. Shiro gripped his armrests in surprise and braced himself for whatever came next. When the chair stopped moving, Shiro found himself inside of a pod cockpit.

Surprised and intrigued, he leaned forward and examined the new set of controls. They were similar to the Black Lion’s main controls but were missing some of the more elaborate commands and view screens. Speaking of view screens, Shiro blinked when all the lights in the pod came to life, glowing the same purple he’d grown accustomed to.

Then the ground dropped out from beneath him, and the pod fell from the Black Lion’s chest to the Balmera’s ground far below. Unfortunately, it took a couple seconds for Shiro’s stomach to catch up to the fall. The dark roof and sides of the pod suddenly came to life, depicting the outside world. The whole thing was a view screen just like the Castleship’s bridge. Shiro huffed, impressed.

He gripped the control rods and tested the vehicle’s sensitivity and reaction time, smiling when the pod leapt forward. When he pulled far enough ahead, a flash of purple behind him caught his attention. He turned his head and looked out through the pod’s view screens behind him and saw the Black Lion’s particle barrier lift, protecting it from intruders.

The Black Lion rumbled in his mind and Shiro relaxed. It seemed the pod could keep the Black Lion’s consciousness close to its paladin’s even though they would be separated by space and the particle barrier. Good to know. A gridded map of the path ahead filled the view screens so he had a rough idea of what to expect from this path. Feeling ready for anything, Shiro pushed the control rods forward and sped down the tunnel directly in front of him.

* * *

 

Hunk ran down the tunnel as fast as his feet could carry him. He’d been forced to leave the Yellow Lion’s pod behind when the tunnel got too narrow for it. The tunnel looked identical to all the others he’d seen so he had no real idea of where he was or where he was going, just that he needed to find Shay and her family. He was almost certain the Balmera was helping him now at this point.

However, even with the Balmera’s help, Hunk had expected to run into at least a handful of Galra soldiers. He hadn’t seen a single one so far and that bothered him. It was good, don’t get him wrong, but it was also strange. The caverns were still and quiet, except for the yellow paladin’s footfalls and the occasional groaning of the Balmera.

A purplish light was faintly visible around the corner up ahead and Hunk picked up his pace, activating his bayard just in case. When he rounded the corner, he held his huge bayard gun up, ready to fire. But instead of Galra sentries, he saw a purple particle barrier acting as a prison door. It was just translucent enough that Hunk could see Balmerans on the other side. He didn’t recognize them, but that didn’t matter. They were prisoners that needed to be freed; that was all that was important.

Hunk raised his bayard and fired at the access panel, busting it into sparks and bits. The purple barrier immediately dropped, startling the Balmerans inside. The paladin lowered his gun, deactivating his bayard, and smiled to the prisoners.

“Don’t worry,” he said. “It’s okay. You’re free. If you can, find the others and get to a safe pla- Hey!” he gasped, his smile growing larger. “You’re Shay’s family. Elder,” he said, bowing his head respectfully.

The Elder stood from the earthen bench by the wall and stepped forward, looking the paladin over with sharp, old eyes. She smiled. “So,” she said, her voice slightly hoarse, “you have kept your promise.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Hunk said, smiling gently at the old Balmeran. “Coran and my friends are here with me. We’re going to do the exchange as soon as we get rid of the Galra.”

“Get rid of the Galra?” Shay’s father gasped. “What you speak of is only a dream. It cannot come to pass.”

“It will,” Hunk said fiercely. “I made a promise to Shay to show you guys what freedom was. I’m not going to break that promise now.”

“This one’s words are lies,” said another voice from the back of the prison cell.

Hunk turned to the new speaker in surprise. “Rax?”

“These ones’ lives may have been hard,” Rax said, gesturing to his family, “but at least we were together. He stood from his seat in fury. “After you and the other one left, the Galra came for Shay. They took her to the core of the Balmera. We have not seen her since.”

“Damn,” Hunk muttered. He turned on his communicator. “Hey, Shiro,” he said, “we’ve got a problem.”

 _“What is it, Hunk?”_ the black paladin said. _“Are you alright?”_

“I’m fine, but Shay’s not,” the yellow paladin said. “The Galra captured her after Coran and I left the first time. Rax says they took her to the Balmera’s core.”

Shiro sighed. _“They’re setting us up,”_ he said in frustration.

“We have to save her,” Hunk said firmly.

 _“I know, Hunk,”_ Shiro said, soothing the yellow paladin’s fears. _“I’m just trying to figure out how.”_

“You think the princess will have any ideas?” Hunk asked.

He heard a gasp from the Balmerans and looked over to them worriedly. “You okay?” he asked.

The Elder held her large hands up to her mouth and her eyes were wide and full of awful wonder and didn’t answer right away.

 _“I’ll call her and ask,”_ Shiro said. _“In the meantime, get the Balmerans to safety. I’ll tell Pidge to keep a lookout for the core. I doubt it’ll be hard to miss.”_

“Right. Thanks Shiro,” Hunk said, turning his communicator back to listen only. “I got my friends looking for Shay. We’ll find her. I promise.”

“You spoke of a princess,” the Elder said.

“Huh? Oh, yeah. She’s our leader, I guess,” Hunk said. “Well, actually Shiro is the leader but she’s the _leader_ leader. Or- wait that doesn’t make sense. She’s the general to Shiro’s commander, I guess.”

“This one you speak of,” the Elder said, her eye glittering in the low lighting, “is Altean, is that not so?”

“Yeah,” Hunk said. “So’s Coran, and my friend we came here trying to save last time. I guess I told Shay, but not you guys. My bad, sorry,” he said, rubbing his neck awkwardly.

“Shay did tell us,” Shay’s mother said, joining her husband and the Elder. “She said your friend was a prince.”

“He is,” Hunk said. “He’s here on Balmera, actually. He’s helping Keith, another friend of mine, take out the Galra fighters.”

“Then this one recovered as you wished,” Shay’s father said.

"Well," Hunk said hesitantly. "Sort of."

“Why do you care about this one’s friends?” Rax exclaimed, obviously upset. “This one has brought nothing but suffering to this family. It was better before this one came.”

“And yet the Balmera trusted this one,” the Elder said sternly. “I wish to meet this one’s friends. If they are who this one says they are, then there is hope. Something which has been unknown in this place for many periods.”

“Why do you insist on believing this one’s shadow show?” Rax cried desperately. “The Galra have already taken Shay from us. Now they will take all of us away.”

“L-look,” Hunk said, holding up his hands in a peaceful gesture, “you can talk about this all you want later. Right now you need to get somewhere safe while we save Shay.”

“We will, paladin of Voltron,” the Elder said gently. “We will gather our people and help as we can.”

“What?” Rax gasped.

“Be silent, young one,” the Elder said sharply. “Your words are spoken without understanding. It was your act of betrayal that had Shay captured, was it not?”

The young Balmeran stiffened and fell silent. The Elder returned her gaze to Hunk. “Go help the ones you call your friends,” she said. “We will aid you when we can.”

Hunk smiled. “Thanks ma’am,” he said in relief. “You guys stay safe, you hear?”

He waited for an answering smile before activating his bayard again and running down the next tunnel towards the core. At least, he hoped it was towards the core. Balmera, please take him to the core.


	22. Testing Boundaries

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Lance tries Keithek's self-control, Shiro has bad news, and the Galra begin their attack.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **A/N:** I am so tired. It's 12:40am my time right now. Thank God I can sleep in till 10am tomorrow morning. I'm going to need it. As usual, I'll edit this tomorrow. Enjoy y'all.

“So, you have fire power.”

Keithek flushed and continued walking through the tunnel before crouching at the cliff overlooking the hanger. There were at least fifty Galra fighters parked on the floor approximately seventeen spans below the cliff. The control tower was directly across from the paladins' hideout reachable by several metal beams that crossed the open span of the hanger. They were probably there to lend support to the Balmera’s questionable foundation. Keithek hadn’t missed the crumbling state of the Balmera’s tunnels. He would wager they were on the borderline of safe at the moment.

“Keith.”

He scanned the hangar for any sentries or Galra and counted only thirteen drones. That was an unusually low number of sentries protecting so many fighters. Normally there were twice that many. Something about this just felt wrong.

“Keith.”

Well, between himself and Lance, Keithek was certain the sentries could be easily dispatched. He drew his bayard and activated it, pleased when the short, red and white sword materialized from the handle. The only problem would be getting down the side of the Balmera’s walls. As long as he was climbing, he could only use the shield on his left forearm to defend if he was seen. Otherwise-

Cool arms slipped around his neck and something nuzzled his neck between his helmet and collar. He shivered when cold air brushed his skin.

“Keithek,” Lance whispered.

The red paladin froze stiff, violet and gold eyes wide in shock. One of the blue paladin’s hands slid down Keithek’s armored chest, over to his arm, and down to cover his right hand. His bayard dropped from nerveless fingers as Lance wove their gloved fingers together.

“You’re ignoring me,” Lance murmured.

Keithek’s ears twitched where they were pressed against his hair under his helmet. Lance was holding him of his own volition. He had to take a deep, shaky breath to calm his Alpha senses and slow his fast beating heart. Quiznak, this Altean would be the death of him.

“Lance,” he hissed, perhaps a little breathlessly. “We are behind enemy lines.”

“Really?” Lance asked, sounding ridiculously calm. “I had no idea.”

Keithek twitched. “Don’t push me,” he warned.

“Is that a challenge?” Lance purred against his neck.

It took every ounce of self-control Keithek had to _not_ turn around, pin his mate to one of the tunnel’s walls, and kiss him stupid. Now was not the time or the place for that. Later. Once they got back to the Castle; or the Lions, Keithek would be fine with it in the Lions. Whichever came first. Probably the Lions.

“You weren’t planning on barging in there, sword swinging, with an almighty war cry like some crazed Alpha, were you Keithek?” Lance asked, sounding like this whole thing wasn’t affecting him at all.

Quiznak him.

“I… I _am_ an Alpha,” Keithek said. “Unless you have a better idea,” he took a deep breath, “then that’s all I’ve got.”

Lance laughed softly, and it did things to Keithek that were not suited for this situation. “I do have a better idea actually,” Lance said, smiling. He used the fingers of the hand that remained over the red paladin’s chest to lift Keithek’s chin, turning it so they both looked at the control tower. “We break in there and close the hangar doors. With those closed, even if the Galra get to their fighters, they won’t be able to do anything for a good while.”

“That…” Keithek’s blush darkened and he sulked. “That is a better idea, actually,” he admitted reluctantly.

“I know,” Lance sang happily.

The Altean stood slowly, drawing his hands over Keithek’s armored body as he went until he was too far to maintain contact, despite the red paladin leaning not so subtly into the touch. Lance snickered and skipped away, pausing by the cliff.

“How good are you at hunting, Keith?” he asked.

Without waiting for an answer, Lance turned and hopped down from the cliff, landing lightly on the metal beam a couple spans below. Keithek scrambled to the cliff edge and stared at the prince’s retreating back hungrily. Quiznak. It was going to be incredibly difficult to keep his distance and control his urges like he promised Coran if Lance kept teasing him like that.

* * *

_“If you really see him as your mate, then he should be worth it.”_

* * *

Keithek groaned as the adviser’s words rang in his head. He would control himself, somehow. However, just because he would control his urges, that didn’t mean he would allow Lance’s challenge stand. How good was he at hunting, indeed. The Alpha within him growled, begging to meet the challenge head on. Who was Keithek to deny himself that?

He picked up his deactivated bayard, stood, and leapt off the cliff, following the Altean prince across the beam towards the control tower. It took a few attempts to get inside the structure. Keithek eventually decided to opt for the ventilation system as the best way to get inside the tower since the main door was inaccessible behind the Balmeran wall.

As he climbed through the vent tunnel, he heard the prince’s laughter flutter up to his ears.

“So you really are good with tight spaces,” Lance teased.

Keithek shook his head. “I know you’re implying something, Lance,” he grumbled. “And when I find out what it is, I’ll rub it in your face.”

Lance hummed. “I look forward to it,” he said.

For some reason, Keithek suspected he’d once again walked into a joke he was oblivious to. He rolled his eyes in annoyance and continued forward until he reached the grate directly over the main room of the tower. He activated his bayard and easily sliced through the metal grate startling the Galra sentry below. However, before he could jump down, he was pushed aside and Lance jumped instead.

Keithek watched with wide eyes as the prince fell neatly through the opening and landed squarely on the sentry’s head. But what caught Keithek's interest was when the prince braced his hands on the control panel the sentry had been standing by, leapt and spun around so he caught the sentry’s neck between his ankles. A quick jerk and the robot’s head snapped off, clunking to the ground next to the body.

“Are you coming, or are you just going to sit up there gawking at my amazing skills?” Lance asked, throwing the halfbreed a sultry gaze, smiling unashamedly.

Damn. If Keithek hadn’t been thoroughly screwed by the prince’s kissing skills late last night in the Blue Lion, then there was no hope of recovery now. The red paladin swung his legs over the edge of the hole and dropped to the ground.

“Just so you know,” he said, watching the prince tinker with the Galran technology which they both knew he could do nothing with. “You’re trying my patience.”

The prince glanced back at Keithek and lifted an eyebrow in amusement. “Am I?” he said. He pursed his lips in a mockery of sympathy. “I’m terribly sorry.”

The grin the prince didn’t bother fighting was anything but sorry and it made the red paladin’s body pulse with warmth. His eyes followed the Altean prince’s body closely. “You’re doing this deliberately, aren’t you?” he asked rhetorically.

“Maybe,” Lance said, drawing out the word like the tease he was. “You said you were going to court me.” He stopped trying to tamper with the Galran technology and turned to face the halfbreed, resting his lower back against the control panel. He smiled playfully. “Don’t you know what that entails?”

Keithek deliberately did not look at the prince’s hips, staring directly at Lance’s eye. “Coran gave me a list of things commonly done during courting, yes,” he said slowly.

The prince’s smile grew. “He gave you a list,” he said. “And did he tell you how I would respond?”

Keithek tilted his head uncertainly. “He said you would appreciate it,” he said hesitantly.

Lance cackled. “‘Appreciate,’” he crowed. “He said I’d ‘appreciate’ it. Well alright then.” He calmed down and nodded to the panel behind him. “Close the hangar doors and I’ll show you what Coran meant by me ‘appreciating’ your efforts. If you can, that is.”

The red paladin’s eyebrows twitched down in confused interest. Heaving a sigh at the prince’s antics, he strolled up to the control panel and reached up to place his hand on the hand print. But Lance suddenly stepped in front of him, blocking his view. Keithek glanced at Lance whose face remained unchanged, that teasing smile still playing on his lips.

Keithek tried again, this time reaching around the prince’s other side, only for Lance to once again step in his way. Frustrated, the red paladin tried the other side again, and was again blocked by the prince.

He took a deep breath and stepped black, glaring at Lance in growing frustration. “You do realize we have a job to do,” Keithek said.

Lance just shrugged. “Then do it.”

Keithek growled and tried to reach around Lance to place his hand on the handprint again, only to be blocked by the prince’s body once more. Annoyed, Keithek yanked Lance close to his chest, pinning him there with his free hand so he could touch the panel and initiate the sequence for closing the hangar door. Lance hardly looked annoyed when the red paladin looked at him. In fact, the prince was grinning and tilting his head just like he had last night before-

A moment later, Lance was gone. Keithek looked down at his empty arms in surprise. He followed the flash of blue that ducked under his left arm then darted around behind him. When he turned around, the blue paladin was waving at him innocent as you please by the control tower’s main doorway.

“You coming?” Lance called.

Keithek turned around and looked out through the tower window to see the hangar door above them closing. Below, the Galra sentries were staring up at the door, probably wondering why they hadn’t received a command to act. Several turned they weapons to the tower and began firing, shattering the glass and forcing the red paladin to duck.

He activated his bayard and slashed the control panel, ensuring it couldn’t be used again and raced out of the tower with Lance by his side. The prince only paused to activate his own bayard and blast the access pad into melted metal.

“You’ll pay for that,” Keithek hissed at Lance.

The prince merely laughed and darted ahead.

_“Keith, Lance, come in.”_

“We hear you Shiro,” Keithwk said. “What is it?”

_“Did you get the hangar doors shut?”_

Keithek shot a glare at the carefree prince running next to him. “Eventually, yes,” he grumbled.

 _“Eventually?”_ Shiro repeated in concern. _“What happened? Did you run into any Galra?”_

Keithek considered his answer. “Yes, but they were all sentries, and the one we did meet directly has been destroyed.”

_“Good. We have a problem.”_

The red paladin slowed down and pressed a hand to his communicator. He would have to do something about the placement of the speakers in his helmet. They didn’t align precisely with his Galran ears so he couldn’t hear everything clearly sometimes.

“What is it?” Keithek asked.

“Is it Al- Katie?” Lance asked worriedly.

 _“No, it’s Shay,”_ Shiro said. _“The Galra captured her and took her to the Balmera’s core.”_

“It’s a trap,” Lance said, frowning grimly.

 _“I know,”_ the black paladin said in resignation. _“But we can’t leave her like that.”_

“I agree, but-” Lance bit his lip and tried to think of something. “It would probably be best if we didn’t all go. Someone should stay away in case the Galra spring their trap.”

“I’m not letting you out of my sight,” Keithek said firmly, staring directly at the prince. “You may be a tease of the highest order but you’re also my mate and last time I left you alone, this happened.” He brushed his fingers gently over Lance’s bandaged eye, hating the way the Altean flinched away from his touch.

 _“Understood,”_ Shiro said. _“You two see if you can find the Balmerans and get them somewhere safe.”_

“Where exactly is ‘safe’?” Keithek muttered wryly.

“ _Allura has an idea of how to do the energy exchange,”_ Shiro said. _“She’s planning on going to the Balmera’s surface to do it.”_

“What?” Lance gasped. “She’s crazy. She’s can’t be seen. The Galra can’t find out she’s still alive.”

“I’m more concerned about the structural integrity of the Balmera than the princess at the moment,” Keithek said, studying the earthen walls and ceiling of the tunnel they stood in. “This tunnel is on the verge of collapse. So are some of the others we’ve gone through.”

 _“You’ve noticed that too?”_ Shiro said seriously. _“Lance, you’re more familiar with the energy exchange process than we are. Do you think that could save the Balmera at this point?”_

The prince grimaced, his eye flickering up to Keithek’s in a quiet answer that was clear and grim. “No,” Lance said. “At this point, I doubt the Balmera will survive.” He lifted his eye to the ceiling of the tunnel regretfully. “The most a typical energy exchange would do is heal the small wound created from harvesting a single crystal. To heal the entire Balmera…” He shook his head. “It would require too much energy. It would kill the person doing the ceremony.”

 _“I was afraid of that,”_ Shiro said sadly. _“Lance, don’t let her get carried away.”_

“I’ll do my best,” Lance said. “I’ll take her place if I have to.”

_“I’d rather you didn’t. Just don’t let her kill herself by accident.”_

Lance smiled but it never reached his eye. “As I said, I’ll do my best. Where’s Hunk and Pidge?” he asked, changing the subject.

_“Pidge is on her way to join Hunk. She’s going to stay outside of the core while Hunk and I save Shay.”_

“A backup in case you get trapped,” Lance said, nodding. “Good thinking.”

“We’ll get as many Balmerans as we can to the surface,” Keithek said. “It will probably be safer there than underground.”

 _“Agreed,”_ Shiro said.

“We’ll contact you when we can,” Lance said. “Be safe.”

 _“I’ll do my best,”_ Shiro said and cut the communication.

“I don’t like this,” Lance said. “This is all too easy. It’s almost as if the Galra knew we were coming here.”

“I bet they did,” Keithek said.

Lance gave him an odd look, then his face smoothed into cool fury. “The traders.”

The red paladin tilted his head. “At this point, I think we can call them traitors instead of traders.”

Lance shook his head and snickered. “Come on,” he said, moving down the tunnel again.

“Don’t think you’re off the hook for that stunt you pulled back there,” Keithek called.

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Lance said, tossing one of his blink-wink things he did when he and Keithek first met. It brought a smile to the halfbreed’s lips. Keithek would make Lance pay for teasing him.

Soon.

* * *

 

“Commander Prorok,” the Galra said, approaching the commander and saluting respectfully. “I’ve received word from our troops on Balmera 95-Vox.”

“Yes?” the commander said, not turning from the large windows overlooking the Galran Central Command.

“The Lions of Voltron have appeared, just as the informants said.”

“At least they did one thing right,” Prorok said, finally turning to his second in command. “Inform Subcommander Ylvik to begin his attack. If the Lions are there, then the Altean Castleship should be there as well.”

“Do you want the Subcommander to attack the Lions or the Castle?” the Galra asked.

Commander Prorok considered his options before shrugging. “Have the commander send fighters to Balmera 95-Vox’s surface. They will keep the paladins busy while they take the Lions. In the meantime, have the battlecruiser focus its attacks on the Altean Castle.”

“Yes sir,” the Galra said. “What of the informants?”

“They betrayed us, did they not?” Prorok asked casually. “By not appearing at the given coordinates, we can assume they either lied or their prisoner, if it really was the Champion, escaped. Either way, they did not inform us of the change in plans. Therefore, they cannot be trusted any further.”

“Yes, commander,” the Galra said, bowing his head in acknowledgement. “Shall I inform the Emperor of the attack?”

“No,” the commander said, turning back the window. “I shall inform the Emperor myself. You have your duties, Thace. See to them.”

“Vrepit sa,” Thace said.

With one last salute, Thace turned on his heel and left the commander’s quarters. It would be suspicious if he didn’t report Commander Prorok’s orders to Subcommander Ylvik immediately. But perhaps he could manage a short encrypted message within the transmission to Ylvik. It would be tricky but doable. With any luck, the right ears would get his message and pass it on to the relevant ears.

When his informants first contacted him, Thace had feared the worst. Rolo and Nyma had explicit instructions to not contact him without warning unless it was an emergency. It turned out to be anything but. At least he’d convinced Commander Prorok that the traders were merely bounty hunters out for a prize and nothing more.

However, there was always the chance that someone else saw the transmission and suspected Thace’s story. The Druids immediately came to mind. As long as Thace was based at Central Command, he would have to watch his step. With the Head Druid Haggar constantly at Emperor Zarkon’s side, whispering in his ear, Thace was certain that anything the Druids saw or heard would find its way to Zarkon. The last thing Thace needed was to be caught.

He’d worked too hard and too long to lose his position now. No member of the resistance had ever managed to achieve a position as high as he or as close to the Emperor himself. Thace didn’t push his luck. He was satisfied serving under Commander Prorok. The Commander was a self-serving fool who would likely have devised his own demise had Thace not stepped in when he did. Even Zarkon was beginning to suspect Prorok valued his own glory over that of the Galra Empire.

Now anything Thace did that could be seen as traitorous, as long as it benefited Commander Prorok, could be misconstrued as an attempt by Prorok to further his power and prestige. Within reason of course. Prorok may value his own importance, but he was loyal to Zarkon and the Galra Empire. The commander would never deliberately do something that would cripple the Empire or undermine the Emperor.

Thace didn’t have long to concoct an encrypted message to weave into his transmission to Subcommander Ylvik. He had to prioritize what was most important for the resistance to know and figure out a way to weave that into is message.  

Or…

Thace paused. Perhaps the resistance could wait. He doubted Rolo or Nyma were dead. They would find a way to tell the resistance what they had learned one way or another. He had to be patient. Maybe it would be best to put a less dangerous message into this transmission.

The last Thace heard, his son had been transferred from Subcommander Ylvik’s fleet to Commander Sendak’s. However, Commander Sendak had not been seen or heard from in the past few days. Considering the timing of Sendak’s abrupt communication blackout and the appearance of the Lions of Voltron, Thace doubted it was a coincidence.

He just hoped his son hadn’t met the same fate he suspected Commander Sendak had. He couldn’t bear to lose what little remained of his family.


	23. Fear

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Pidge discovers a new toy, Team Voltron takes the bait, and Allura is Lance's biggest weakness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **A/N:** I am up at 12:50am. ...why...? I have school tomorrow morning. Quick thing y'all. I'm going on a trip to the mountains this weekend so I may not be able to update every night as usual due to possibly finicky Internet. Also, sorry I didn't update last night. My roommate broke her big toe, open wound directly over the fracture. YAY~
> 
> "I blame you. You said I have pretty feet, so the world said 'fuck you.' - my roommate to me literally just now. ^_^;
> 
> I'll edit this tomorrow when I'm fully awake and cognizant.

_“Pidge! What’s your ETA to the core?”_

“Not sure, Shiro,” the green paladin said.

 _“Just a teck or two more,”_ Allura supplied from the Castleship.

“No Galra on the radar?” Pidge asked.

_“I…Radar?”_

“BLIP Tech,” Pidge clarified with an eye roll. “Are there any Galra on the BLIP Tech?”

 _“Oh. No,”_ Allura said. _“None that I can see.”_

 _“This just doesn’t make any sense,”_ Shiro said. _“How on Earth did the Galra know we were coming here?”_

 _“Rolo,”_ Hunk said, joining the group’s communications. _“I bet those losers told Zarkon we were coming.”_

“As much as I hate to admit it,” Pidge said, edging her way down the Balmera’s tunnels, “I think I have to agree with Hunk.”

 _“Why is that a bad thing?”_ Hunk asked.

“Because I was halfway hoping those guys weren’t that bad,” Pidge said.

_“Is this you talking or your technophilia talking?”_

“Are they really separate things?” Pidge teased.

 _“Touche,”_ Hunk said after a moment.

Pidge snickered, then fell abruptly silent when she heard soft footsteps up ahead. “Hey, Katie,” she whispered urgently, drawing her bayard and activating it just in case. “You said there weren’t any Galra ahead, right?”

 _“Yes,”_ the princess confirmed. _“Why?”_

“’Cause someone’s in front of me and if it isn’t a Galra, I need to know what it is,” Pidge said, pressing herself against the Balmera’s earthen wall. “Like ASAP.”

_“Alright, hold on.”_

The footsteps continued to get closer. Pidge couldn’t tell from the sound what or who they belonged to, but she somehow knew it wasn’t one of her team, and she trusted Allura's declaration that it wasn’t a Galra. Could it be a Balmeran, maybe?

Hesitantly, Pidge held her bayard at the ready and waited until the footsteps were close enough that she could attack if she had to. There were multiple people, but they didn’t have the distinctive metallic clank of Galran sentries. They also sounded lighter than an adult’s footfalls. Or at least they did from what Pidge could remember. What if they were kids? Did Balmerans have kids? Or did they just spring up out of holes in the ground?

 _“Pidge! Don’t attack!”_ Allura cried loud enough to make the green paladin wince. _“They’re Balmerans.”_

Huh. Well, what do you know? Pidge lowered her weapon and stepped around the corner and was surprised to see honest-to-God rock people. Considering they were short and skittish, Pidge assumed they were children- three of them to be exact. She hesitantly raised the hand that wasn’t holding her bayard and waved.

“Hey,” she said. “Don’t be afraid.”

The leader of the group was holding a lantern with a tiny flame that cast meager shadows on the Balmera’s walls. It stepped forward slowly, its yellow eyes gleaming in open wonder. As far as Pidge knew, she could be the first human the Balmeran child had ever seen.

“We need to get you to the surface,” Pidge said. “Can you spread the word?”

“Leave?” the Balmeran asked. It sounded female. “These ones have never seen the surface before.”

“Well, you have to, right now,” Pidge said seriously. “It’s too dangerous down here.”

The Balmeran shook her head. “We cannot leave our home,” it said.

“Look,” Pidge said, preparing to argue.

She never got the chance to say her piece. A loud moaning sound echoed through the tunnel, vibrating the walls and ceiling like an earthquake. Pidge instinctively braced herself against the wall of the tunnel but the Balmeran children turned to flee. However, in their haste, one of the Balmerans kicked the lantern, dropping it and falling when the hot glass burned their hands.

Pidge watched in horror as a large piece of the ceiling shook loose and began to show signs of collapse directly onto the injured Balmeran. She quickly pushed away from the tunnel wall and raced towards the Balmeran as fast as she could. Too slow.

A familiar purr invaded her mind, startling her, just as she received a sudden burst of speed catapulting her forward. She snatched the fallen Balmeran as she passed over it, carried by whatever had given her that extra push. She landed in a crouch with the other Balmerans just as the ceiling they had just stood under collapsed in a cave in, effectively blocking their exit.

The Green Lion rumbled in her mind again and a green holographic view screen materialized above her left gauntlet. A sketch of what looked like a jet pack was flashing on the screen. Intrigued, Pidge twisted her head back as far as she could and tried to get a good look at the back of her armor.

 _“Pidge? Pidge, are you alright?”_ the princess cried in concern. _“What was that?”_

“Katie?” the green paladin called over her communicator. “Do I have a jet pack?”

 _“Oh. Yes, I suppose I forgot to tell you. You all have jet packs,”_ Allura said. She sounded somewhat flustered from her slip.

 _“They’re optimized for use in the vacuum of space,”_ Coran explained helpfully. _“However, they can be used in short bursts while on a planet’s surface. It simply requires more power than usual and is incapable of abrupt changes in speed and direction.”_

“Okay,” Pidge said. “Can the Lions use our equipment?”

 _“I…Why?”_ Allura asked in cautious interest.

“‘Cause I think the Green Lion just turned on my jet pack and saved my life and the Balmeran children’s,” Pidge said.

 _“That’s incredible,”_ Allura said. _“I can honestly say I’ve never heard of that happening before. But the Lions will protect their chosen paladins if they can. The bond between you is strong and deep.”_

 _“Still, to have a confirmed case of such an extraordinary event occurring is truly amazing,”_ Coran exclaimed, ever the scientist. _“We should document that as soon as you return to the Castle.”_

Pidge snickered. “I’ll help as best I can,” she said.

“To whom are you speaking?” the Balmeran still in Pidge’s arms asked curiously.

“Ah, sorry ‘bout that,” Pidge said, releasing the small Balmeran. “I was taking to my friend. You need to get out of here. Get as many of your people as you can to the surface. These tunnels aren’t safe.”

“The Balmera is our home,” the child said, gazing at the green paladin with wide, pleading eyes.

“And it’ll continue to be if we can save it,” Pidge said, trying to reassure the children. “But I want you to be safe in the meantime. Please, can you spread the word?”

After a moment, the leader of the Balmeran children nodded. “We will tell the others of your words,” they said.

“Thanks,” Pidge said with a smile.

Then she stood and hurried down the tunnel. It didn’t occur to her to ask for directions until she was too far to turn back without risking getting lost. All of the tunnels looked alike in this semi-darkness.

* * *

 

Okay, he was certain of it now. The Balmera was definitely helping his get here. As far as Hunk was aware, he hadn’t known where he was going and yet he still got here without having to turn around. He just turned corners but here he was staring at the doors directly ahead.

“You’re sure the core is just behind those doors?” he asked.

 _“I’m positive, Hunk,”_ the princess said.

Hunk shook his head in relieved disbelief. The doors were probably strong and reinforced. He drew his bayard and activated it. He hoped he could use the enormous gun as a battering ram. If not, then maybe his bayard could be repaired. Could bayards be repaired?

He braced his bayard against his chest, checked to be sure there were no Galra guarding the door, and ran forward as fast as he could. However, instead of meeting the resistance of solid metal, he met nothing but air. The doors simply opened for him. He had to skid to a stop before running right over a cliff that had to be about ten feet high.

Caught off guard, Hunk lowered his bayard and looked around the room. It was a large cavern with a huge structure shaped like an oversized pitcher plant in the center of the room. The structure glowed a warm red gold that pulsed almost like a heartbeat. Well if this was the core of the Balmera, then it made sense if that structure was indeed the Balmera’s heart.

Something moved in front of the Balmera’s heart, and Hunk almost dropped his bayard when he realized who it was. “Shay!” he cried.

He immediately climbed down the cliff, raised his bayard, and fired a single shot at the glowing purple cord that held his friend dangling from the ceiling. Her muffled scream was all Hunk could focus on as he dropped his bayard and ran forward to catch Shay before she hit the ground.

He just barely managed it. Hunk was a polite soul but the Balmeran female was about as heavy as a boulder. His arms hurt, but he grinned anyway.

“Hunk!”

“Shiro!” Hunk cried, gratefully setting Shay on her feet and looking up at his friend. Shiro stood another cliff after running through another set of doors identical to those the yellow paladin had just run through. “You made it.”

“Looks like you got here before I did though,” the black paladin said. He gave the Balmeran a casual salute. “You must be Shay. I’m Shiro. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Shay removed the gag the Galra had placed over her mouth as quickly as she could. “You must leave with haste,” she said.

“Shiro!” another voice called from yet another door.

“Pidge, is that you?” Hunk hollered.

“Yeah,” the green paladin called back. “I’m not coming in, though. Like Shiro said, someone’s got to stay outside just in case.

“You must all leave at once,” Shay said again. “This is a trap set by the Galra to lure you here. I was the bait.”

No sooner had the words left her mouth did all of the doors slam shut, locking Shiro, Hunk, and Shay inside and Pidge outside.

 _“Shit!”_ Pidge shouted. _“Guys! Are you okay?”_

“Yeah,” Shiro said, staring at the door he’d just run through for a weakness. “Are there any Galra soldiers at there?”

 _“No, none,”_ Pidge said.

“They probably thought we’d all come in here,” the black paladin said, muttering a soft curse.

 _“I heard that, Space Dad,”_ Pidge teased.

Shiro groaned. “Now’s not the time, Pidge. Right now, we need to get out of here.”

“Hey pri-Katie,” Hunk said. “Think you can get us out of here? We could use a little help.”

 _“What’s she supposed to do from orbit, Hunk?”_ Pidge said sarcastically.

“I don’t know,” the yellow paladin said. “But I had to ask, right? I maybe they could beam us out?”

 _“We’re a bit busy at the moment,”_ the princess said. Her voice sounded strained and the signal was full of static; or was that background noise.

“What’s going on up there?” Shiro demanded, sounding worried. “Are you and Coran alright?”

 _“We’re taking heavy fire,”_ the advisor said in clipped tones. _“Looks like the Galra found us.”_

“They’re up there?” Shiro gasped. “But then why… Damn! They’re after the Lions!”

 _“Shit!”_ Pidge shouted.

“We have to get to the Lions,” Shiro said.

 _“But I don’t get it,”_ Pidge said frantically. _“How did the Galra even know we would come here?”_

“I’ll give you one guess,” Hunk said scowling.

“Rolo and Nyma,” Shiro growled, clenching his fists.

Shiro turned back to the doors and activated his Druid-enhanced arm, slashing at the metal. Surprisingly, it didn’t give right away. That meant these doors were thick and likely triple-reinforced.

“Damn it,” he muttered. “We need to get back to Allura.”

 _“We’re coming, Katie,”_ Pidge said. _“Shiro and Hunk are trapped in the Balmera’s core with Shay. I’m trying to get them out.”_

 _“Well hurry beca- Wait. Coran, what is that?”_ the princess demanded.

 _“Something’s locked onto us,”_ Coran said, sounding frantic.

_“What is it? Oh frak.”_

“What is it?” Shiro demanded. “Princess please answer me. What is it? What locked on to you?”

 _“I-It’s a Galra battlecruiser.”_ Allura sounded subdued and horrified. _“The particle barrier can’t withstand a direct hit from a battlecruiser’s ion cannon at its current state.”_

“What about Lance and Keith?” Hunk asked. “They’re still outside the core helping the Balmerans to the surface.”

“Good idea,” Shiro said. “Pidge, can you contact Lance and Keith?”

 _“I can try,”_ Pidge said. _“Why haven’t they answered already, though? Isn’t this thing basically a party line type thing?”_

“My guess is it can be turned on and off,” Hunk said, picking up his fallen bayard. “Or it could be interference of some kind.”

“Perhaps I can aid you,” Shay offered, startling the paladins silent. She placed her hand on the Balmera’s heart and closed her eyes. “This is how we communicate. The Balmera feels out vibrations and sends the message to the others.”

 _“So what? Like Morse code or something?”_ Pidge asked.

“Sounds like it,” Shiro said. Louder, he said, “Give it a try. Try to tell your friends to get Lance and Keith to their Lions and help Princess Allura.”

“I shall try,” Shay said and concentrated.

The Balmera’s heart underneath Shay’s hand began to glow a soft gold and a sad, beautiful sound filled the core chamber.

 _“Is that the Balmera?”_ Pidge asked quietly, almost reverently.

“Yeah,” Hunk said just as quietly. “Yeah, it is.”

 _“Wow,”_ she whispered. _“It's so beautiful.”_

The moaning song sounded much like the song of humpback whales from Earth: sad, solemn, breathtaking, and soft. The paladins could only stand in silent awe as the song continued to flow from the Balmera spreading Shay’s message. Hopefully, it wouldn’t reach the blue and red paladins too late. The song rippled through the air for a full minute at least unbroken before the Balmera began to shake.

 _“Another earthquake?”_ Pidge gasped.

The sound of metal groaning and crunching from pressure startled the paladins who all turned to the doors to the Balmera’s core. As they watched, the Balmera’s walls moved, crushing the Galran doors until the metal gave way, revealing open pathways to escape.

“Wha… How… Shay,” Hunk asked, turning to his friend in awe. “Did you do this?”

Shay stepped back from the Balmera’s heart and offered the yellow paladin a gentle smile. “Not I. She did this,” Shay said, lifting her gaze reverently to the Balmera’s heart. “I request my people to relay your message to the others. But I also requested they help you escape to save your princess.”

“Thank you, Shay,” Shiro said, throwing a heartfelt smile the Balmeran’s way. “We’re in your debt. Now hurry and get to the surface. These tunnels aren’t safe. Pidge, Hunk, get to your Lions.”

_“Yes, sir.”_

Without another word, Shiro climbed through the newly made opening and fled down the tunnel.

* * *

 

Keith danced through the Galra sentries with a deadly grace that Lance helplessly admired. From his position above the Galran-made rafters, Lance had a decent bird’s eye view of the makeshift battlefield. Whenever a Galran sentry got too close to the red paladin for comfort, he shot it. His aim was slightly off due to his questionable depth perception, but he was still a good shot.

“Shoot _them!_ Not me!” Keith shouted as he dodged a bolt of blue plasma.

Well, the prince thought, a _fairly_ good shot. Lance bit his lip in amusement at Keith’s annoyance and continued to take out as many sentries as he could. It was just their luck that they would stumble upon the only battalion of sentries inside the Balmera. Naturally.

“Whatever you say, dearest,” Lance called, smirking at the disgruntled look Keith shot his way.

The only reason Keith and Lance had stopped to fight this many sentries at all was because they were blocking the way to their Lions as well as the escape route for the Balmerans. The paladins’ Lions were parked in the large mining shafts which were littered with ladders and trails leading up to the surface. The Balmerans would have to climb up the mining shaft to escape and Keith and Lance needed to get to their Lions.

Lance fired a shot at a particularly daring Galra sentry that slipped past Keith’s guard, and missed. Fear jolted the prince into action. He scrambled to his feet and dropped to the ground below just in time to knock the sentry’s gun away with his bayard. He planted his booted foot on the sentry’s chest and pushed.

The force of the push knocked him backwards so that his back connected with Keith’s. He smirked. “Supporting me already?” he teased.

Keith didn’t bother to answer Lance- not that the prince expected a reply. He was pretty sure he knew the red paladin was rolling his eyes. Lance continued to blast what sentries he could while keeping his back to Keith. They were in a fairly small cavern just short of the Blue Lion’s location. There wasn’t much room for grand gestures so they had to watch their footwork to be sure they didn’t get stuck facing the cavern’s walls.

Suddenly, a beautiful moaning song filled the cavern. The sentries and the paladins paused in their fighting to stare warily at their surroundings. The Balmerans they had been leading appeared surprised, but they did not stand and look around in confusion. They all placed their hands to either the cavern walls or floor. Golden light blossomed from where their hands touched the Balmera, illuminating the cavern.

The Galra turned their weapons on the Balmerans, forcing Keith and Lance to activate their arm shields and deflect the shots.

“Whatever you guys are doing, I suggest you hurry it up,” Keith called to the Balmerans.

While Lance wouldn’t say it out loud, he agreed with the red paladin completely. As long as the Galra were focusing their attacks on the defenseless Balmerans, the paladins were forced to defend only. If one of them tried to attack, then some of the sentries’ attacks would break through their defenses, resulting in a pained cry from one of the Balmerans.

The ground began shaking. At first, it was just a gentle rocking, but the rocking quickly turned into a violent quake. The shaking was so intense that both Keith and Lance staggered and lost their balance. Pebbles fell from the ceiling, followed by whole sections of the stone above them, crushing the Galra sentries below. However, not one stone fell on the paladins or the Balmerans.

Lance stared at the devastation in awe. The Balmera had saved them. This magnificent creature that valued life and peace had destroyed the robotic sentries to save the lives of its children and two strangers. The poor thing probably knew its time was running short and chose to use what little of its strength remained to protect. It broke his heart.

“What the quiznak?” Keith whispered in shock.

“We bring word from those ones with Shay,” one of the Balmeran refugees said, drawing both paladin’s attention. She was an old crone compared to the Balmerans around her but from the way she held herself and the difference shown to her by her companions, she was highly respected. “They say the ones called Lance and Keith should go to their Lions and aid one Princess Allura,” the old Balmeran continued.

“Allura?” Lance breathed. “Allura!” He turned on his communicator and shouted into the speak, “Allura! Are you alright? What’s wrong? Allu-”

 _“Lance!”_ She sounded terrified.

“Allura, what is it? You have to tell me,” he demanded. “What’s happening?”

 _“T-There’s a battlecruiser in front of us,"_ Allura’s voice was shaking. _“The particle barrier won’t hold. Lance?”_ Her next words were soft, barely even audible. But they sent fear fueled adrenaline surging through the prince’s body, jolting him into action. _“I don’t want to die.”_

“I’m here,” Lance said, getting to his feet. “I’m here. I’m almost to my Lion. Just hang on.”

Without waiting for Keith or anything else, Lance got to his feet and began climbing over the fallen earthen and mechanical debris.

 _“Lance, can you hear me?”_ Shiro called, interrupting Lance and Allura’s communication. _“Are you to your Lion yet?”_

“Not now, Shiro,” Lance said sharply. “Keith, get to your Lion. We need to leave now.”

“What about the Balmerans?” Keith gasped.

“They can climb out,” Lance said, jumping down to the floor on the other side of the debris pile. “We have to form Voltron now!”


	24. White Hot Destruction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Lance is silent, Shiro takes command, Allura uses a weapon of terrible power, and the Galra still aren't through with Team Voltron.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **A/N:** Just in case I can't update tomorrow night or the next, I'm uploading this chapter to tide y'all over. Hope you enjoy.
> 
> BTW, my roommate is doing much better. She's figured out how to walk without causing much pain (it's this cute little waddle), and she's still wearing that goofy boot. But I'm driving for our trip tomorrow so she can sleep and relax. She's also not a morning person so it's probably for the best that I'm driving. You know, considering we're leaving at 6am local time. ^^; Smoky Mountains Ho!

Shiro blinked at the prince’s unusually sharp reply. As far as the black paladin could remember, Lance had never said anything in such a cold, curt tone except when he argued with his sister in 'private' that one time. He was always polite and courteous, if a bit outrageous and flirtatious.

“Keith, what’s going on?” he asked, trying an alternative to contacting Lance again. “Is Lance alright?”

 _“I don’t know,”_ was the red paladin’s reply. _“He called Allura. Whatever she told him made him freak out. He ran ahead to his Lion leaving me and the Balmerans behind.”_

“He left the Balmerans alone?” Shiro gasped. That was definitely not like Lance. “Are they alright? Where are you right now?”

 _“I’m about to get into the Red Lion,”_ Keith said. _“The Blue Lion’s already in fli- Fraking quiznak!”_

“Keith!”

Shiro stopped talking when his speeder pod burst out into the mining shaft where he’d left the Black Lion. He was horrified to see several Galran fighters hijacking the Black Lion with their tractor beams. Thankfully, the Black Lion had kept its particle barrier up so they couldn’t directly access it, but this also made it impossible for Shiro to reach the Black Lion. Especially now that the Lion was hovering at least a good a fifteen or so above the ground. Or so he thought.

Before he could slow down, the pod began speeding up without his input. Frantically trying to slow down, Shiro pulled back on the controls. Nothing happened. The next moment, the pod was rising from the ground, up through a small opening in the Black Lion’s particle barrier, and back into the Lion’s small chest hangar. Shiro barely had a chance to marvel at the sudden change in location when the roof slid open above him. His pilot seat lifted up to the floor above and slid down a track into the Black Lion’s cockpit.

The Lion made a sound that Shiro suspected was a laugh at his shock. The Lion’s amusement eased his nerves and he gripped the controls confidently. Immediately, the Lion’s particle barrier disappeared and Shiro flew up out of the shaft into the sky. Pidge’s Green Lion and Hunk’s Yellow Lion swiftly joined him followed closely by Keith’s Red Lion. Lance’s Blue Lion wasn’t visible until Shiro looked up. The Blue Lion was streaking through the sky directly at the Galra battlecruiser that was currently facing off with the Castle of Lions.

“Guys! Get to the Castle quick!” he commanded, forcing the Black Lion into a steep climb. “Lance! Lance, come back. We can form Voltron and stop this!”

No response.

“Lance!” Shiro called again. “Lance, help us form Voltron. We’ll have a better chance of defending the Castle that way.”

 _“Lance!”_ Keith called over the same channel. _“Lance, listen to me!”_

 _“Lance, stop!”_ Hunk shouted.

 _“He’s insane!”_ Pidge cried.

To Shiro’s horror, Lance ignored all of their calls and flew the Blue Lion straight at the Galra battlecruiser. Shiro pushed the throttles as far forward as he could. But the moment he saw the tell-tale purple glow of the ion cannon powering up, he knew he wouldn’t make it in time. He could only watch in sick fascination as the Castle’s particle barrier shrank so it only covered the bow of the Castleship in an oval shape.

Shiro knew the princess had probably focused the full force of the particle barrier directly in front of the Castle in the hopes it would have a better chance of absorbing the ion cannon’s blast. It was a last ditch effort and everyone knew it.

“We have to get to that battleship,” he said. “Everyone, push hard. We may not be able to stop the ion cannon from firing, but we may be able to knock it off target.”

 _“Gotcha,”_ Hunk said. _“I’ll take the lead. My Lion can take the brunt of the impact.”_

“No Hunk,” Shiro said. “We’re in this together. We’ll hit that ship with everything we’ve got.”

 _“Aim for the furthest point on the bow,”_ Keith supplied. _“Galra battlecruisers are heavier and bulkier in the back.”_

“Good idea,” Shiro said, adjusting his trajectory accordingly.

 _“Everyone, get close,”_ Pidge said. _“If we focus our force in a smaller area, the impact should be greater.”_

“Alright, you heard the lady,” Shiro said. “Close formation now!”

The four Lions formed a tight circle and turned on the equivalent of their afterburners. The resulting boost in thrust shot them upwards. Ahead, the Blue Lion struck the Galra battlecruiser and fired its thrusters at full power, trying to budge the ship upwards.

“Lance, hang on,” Shiro called to the prince, hoping his message got through. “We’re coming.”

Before the words even finished leaving his mouth, the ion cannon fired, filling the sky with a terrible purple glow that heralded nothing but destruction. The beam of solid energy struck the Castle’s failing particle barrier at full power. The Castle shuddered under the attack. Shiro grit his teeth and braced himself for impact.

They hit the battlecruiser at top speed. The force of the abrupt stop threw the black paladin out of his seat and straight into the dashboard. Then he was no longer in control- the Black Lion was. A rush of air like the wind in the mountains of his childhood home filled his mind accompanied by the loud, ear-piercing sound of metal scraping against metal.

He opened his eyes and shook his head to shake off the wooziness. The view screen in front of him showed the Black Lion’s claws ripping into the battlecruiser’s hull as the Lion continued to push the ship upwards with all its might. Shiro gasped when his ribs protested his sudden attempt to push himself up and get back into his seat. He would have to look into getting seat belts for the Lions’ pilot seats. This just wasn’t safe.

A wry growl rumbled in the cockpit and inside Shiro’s mind, comforting him and apologizing for the pain. The black paladin smiled. “Don’t worry about it,” he said aloud. “It wasn’t your fault.”

He blinked in surprise when he realized he’d just spoken aloud, but his smile didn’t fade.  Instead, he chuckled and grabbed the controls once more.

“Behind you all the way, buddy,” he said, smirking at the proud roar the Black Lion sent him.

 _“Is it working?”_ ” he heard Hunk asked through his cockpit speaker. _“Did we save the Castle?”_

 _“Paladins!”_ Allura voice shouted over the speakers. _“Get out of there now!”_

Shiro immediately pulled back on the throttles, pushing away from the Galra battlecruiser. As the Black Lion fell back, Shiro’s view of the scene became more clear. He and his fellow paladins had succeeded in knocking the battlecruiser upward, forcing the Castle of Lions out of the ion cannon's targeting range. He heaved a sigh in relief.

“We did it,” he breathed, laughing helplessly. He slumped back in his chair and kept laughing breathlessly. “Oh my god, we did it.”

_“Holy **shit!** ”_

At Pidge’s cry, Shiro bolted forward to grab his controls again, only to freeze and stare up at the sky in awe. The Castle’s particle barrier vanished making his heart stutter. But in its place, the Castle fired a beam of pure, brilliant white that rivaled the light of the Earth’s sun. It was virgin starlight with all the power of a neutron star and deadly accuracy of a blazar. It dazzled Shiro’s eyes, forcing him to blink as spots speckled his vision from the sheer brightness.

In response to its paladin’s discomfort, the Black Lion added a light filter to the main view screen dimming the brilliance of the Castle’s attack. Shiro whispered a quick thank you and opened his eyes again. He watched as the beam of starlight struck the Galra battlecruiser, piercing right through it like a straw through water. The resulting eruption of white engulfed the entire sky, overpowering the Black Lion’s light filter. Shiro looked away again and squeezed his eyes shut, seeing the light through his eyelids as a reddish glow.

Then he felt his body abruptly being compressed as a shock wave struck the Black Lion, knocking it briefly out of sync with the air stream. The Lion dropped several yards before Shiro recovered it, just in time to see the entire sky erupt in flame and noise. He could barely believe his eyes.

 _“They’re gone,”_ Keith whispered, his voice soft in shock. _“That… They’re all gone.”_

 _“The Castle took out an entire battlecruiser and Galra fleet in one shot,”_ Hunk said in amazed disbelief.

 _“Talk about a one hit K.O.,”_ Pidge said, trying to process what she’d just seen.

“Woah,” was all Shiro could say.

He knew about weapons of mass destruction. He’d seen some of them in action. But this… It sent shudders through his system. He sincerely hoped the Castle wouldn’t have to use that weapon again if they could avoid it. That kind of thing was a last resort weapon only.

_“Allura!”_

Shiro jolted out of his thoughts when Lance’s frantic voice rang over the open channel. _“Allura, answer me,”_ Lance demanded _. “Are you alright? Allura!”_

 _“Lance!”_ the princess said sounding winded and shaken. _“Lance I… I had to. I had to. I’m sorry. I had to.”_

 _“It’s alright,”_ Lance said quickly, flying the Blue Lion up to the Castleship. _“You had to. You had to survive. You had to live. It’s okay. It’s okay.”_

 _“No, it’s not!”_ Allura cried. _“I promised I wouldn’t… But then I… Oh quiznak. I didn’t want to die.”_

 _“You did **nothing** wrong, Allura,”_ the prince said fiercely. _“Coran, watch Allura. I’m coming.”_

 _“Um, guys?”_ Pidge interrupted. _“Sorry to break up the sibling bonding time, but what the fuck is that?”_

“What is what Pidge?” Shiro asked, scanning the maps on his view screens for anything unusual. He noticed something flashing Galra purple and turned the Black Lion towards the bogey.

 _“Is that another battlecruiser?”_ Hunk asked nervously.

 _“It looks more like an asteroid,”_ Pidge.

 _“No,”_ Keith said, his tone dark. _“It’s one of the Druid’s monstrosities.”_

 _“Another one?”_ Hunk gasped.

 _“Goddamn it,”_ Pidge cursed. _“How many of those damn things do the Galra even have?”_

 _“It doesn’t matter how many they have right now,”_ the red paladin said grimly. _“What matters is that they can make more when they need to.”_

“That’s not go-”

 _“It’s going to hit the Balmera!”_ Hunk cried seconds before the Galran device struck the Balmera’s surface, shattering the ground beneath it without regard for the creature’s health.

“Everyone,” Shiro said, taking charge. “Form Voltron. We may be able to stop this thing before it can get out of that case.”

 _“Yeah,”_ Pidge said. _“And if it’s anything like the first one we fought, then we can take it.”_

 _“It won’t be,”_ Keith said. _“They’re never the same thing twice.”_

“Form Voltron now,” Shiro said. “We’ll worry about this thing’s characteristics after.”

 _“Understood,”_ the paladins said.

The rush of power from his Lion struck Shiro like a hurricane blast. But it didn’t hurt. In fact, it exhilarated him. He felt strong and powerful and proud. He was the Black Lion’s paladin and the Black Lion was his. They belonged to each other. The Black Lion would accept no other.

The Black Lion’s roar was like a drug rushing through his veins. Shiro couldn’t get enough of it. It was fresh and smelled faintly of home. The power that thundered into him like a flap of a dragon’s wing was everything Shiro needed. It was perfect.

When he opened his eyes, he knew Voltron had been formed. He could feel the other Lions at the edges of his senses. The wild, untamed elements of fire and water on his right and the solidarity of the earth and forest to his left while he was the mighty wind of a tornado at the head. Together they were Voltron. He could feel his fellow paladins’ rippling agreement like whispers on a gentle breeze. They were in this together.

As a team, the paladins watch the giant metal box burst apart revealing the ghastly Robeast within. It was drastically different from the first Robeast they fought as Team Voltron. This one was tall and slender with long, flat appendages for arms. Numerous raised half spheres speckled the Robeast’s appendages and at least two were situated on the monster’s head on a track. They were probably intended to be the equivalent of eyeballs, but were too abhorrent to be considered anything remotely organic.

After a moment of eerie silence, the orbs on the Robeast’s body began glowing a disturbing, radioactive green. The monstrosity raised its appendages wide as if to take flight and blasted Voltron with green beams originating from the half spheres all over its body.

 _“Holy shit!”_ Pidge shouted.

“Look out!” Shiro cried.

He followed the instructions the Black Lion fed to him through their link and the shield made of the Black Lion’s wings formed in the Green Lion’s jaw-fist. He felt Keith use his bayard to create the Red Lion’s sword in Voltron’s other jaw-fist. If the paladins could get close enough, then they could try to destroy the Robeast’s eye blasters.

Unfortunately, they couldn’t get close. Every time they moved, they were hit by green rays that pushed them back like a gust of wind. It was too much power for Voltron to handle. Shiro could feel the other Lions shuddering as they tried to hold formation. Voltron was a single huge target for all of the Robeast's guns. So why be a single target when they could be five, smaller, faster targets?

“Alright, I hate to say this, but we have to break up,” Shiro said.

 _“I’m seriously trying not to make a snide remark about us not even dating in the first place,”_ Pidge said, her voice strained over the speakers. _“But I’ll leave that for Lance.”_

 _“What the quiznak is that supposed to mean?”_ the prince snapped, sounding just as strained as the green paladin.

“Enough!” Shiro snapped. “Break up now!”

Just as another wave of green rays blazed across the expanse between the Robeast and Voltron, the Lions separated and darted out of the way.

“Guerilla tactics everyone,” the black paladin commanded. “Attack, dodge, evade. Go!”

 _“Roger,”_ Hunk said, dodging to the left.

 _“10-4,”_ Pidge shouted, diving her Lion to the right.

 _“What the quiznak is a ‘guerilla tactic’?”_ Keith shouted frantically, swerving around the green beams.

Lance wasn’t much better, barely managing to avoid the Robeast's attacks. Shiro shook his head and grit his teeth. He mentally swore that the next time they had down time, he was going to sit Keith and all of the Alteans down and explain Earth battle tactics, lingo, the whole shebang. This ridiculous miscommunication thing was turning into a nightmare on the battlefield.

* * *

 

Rolo was slammed into another wall of invisible electricity, shrieking as the volts jolted through his unprepared body. His extremities were tingling and he was most definitely _not_ happy. When the violent shuddering began, Rolo had suspected it was on purpose. But when the alarms began blaring, he realized it wasn’t.

He’d managed to get back to Nyma through the maze and together they staggered through the many pathways. They had taken to throwing his hat and jacket in front of them to test for invisible electric walls. The tactic was working so far, until the shuddering began. Another ferocious tremor struck the ship and Rolo was flung forward. He braced himself for another electrocution, but nothing happened.

He landed on the floor by the wall alive and not electrocuted. Hesitantly, he pushed himself up and looked behind him. Nyma was on her hands and knees staring at him in shocked hope. She quickly scrambled across the floor towards Rolo who caught her in his arms. She wasn’t electrocuted. She was fine. _They_ were fine. Did they make it?

Without stopping to consider that thought, Rolo stood and spun around looking for the door out of the arena. The instant he noticed it, he snagged his partner’s hand and together they raced towards it. Nothing happened.

They _had_ made it.

A small Galra hoverbot darted in front of him forcing him to skid to a stop. The little hoverbot glowed green and beeped. Rolo cursed his luck. It was Pidge’s hoverbot Rover. Nyma stepped up next to him, standing by him as an equal. Rolo narrowed his eyes and adopted a defensive stance.

“Look,” he said. “We just want to get out of here. We won’t leave the ship, but we don’t want to be electrocuted anymore. That’s torture.”

The hoverbot made no noise. It just flashed twice and turned around, flying through the air to the door. When it reached the portal, it turned so its camera eye looked back at Rolo as if to say, “Are you coming?”

A faint smile touched the trader’s lips and he hurried to the door. He was insanely relieved when the door slid open easily for him. He looked back at the hoverbot and smiled. “Thanks, man,” he said gratefully.

He stepped out into the hallway and turned left. He stopped and turned around when Nyma tugged on his arm. She thrust his jacket and hat into his hands and pointed to the hoverbot.

“I think it wants us to go that way,” she said.

Sure enough, the hoverbot was flashing and darting back and forth across the hall in the opposite direction Rolo had been heading. He couldn’t hear the hoverbot beeping over the blaring alarms, but he trusted his partner.

“Alright,” he said, shrugging on his favorite jacket and slapping his hat back on haphazardly. “Might as well.”

He and Nyma followed Rover down the hall towards a lift. When they entered the lift, the hoverbot bumped its body into one of the buttons on the wall panel sending then rocketing up through the lift tube. When the doors slid open, Rover flew out and waited for Rolo and Nyma to step out as well.

It promptly darted to the left, pausing to turn back every now and then to make sure the traders were following it. It was amusing to see such a personality in a simple Galran hoverbot. Who knew? Then again, maybe the personality was a result of Pidge’s technical expertise. He didn’t get the chance to dwell on that intriguing though for long because when he turned the corner, he could think of nothing but the huge Galra battlecruiser filling the view screens of the Castleship’s bridge.

He felt his heart drop when the terrifying purple of the infamously destructive ion cannon zoomed towards the bridge. He was going to die. Nyma was going to die. They’d escaped that invisible electric maze only to watch the tool of their demise approach them with deadly speed and accuracy.

However, an instant before the ion cannon’s blast struck the Castleship, it struck an obviously thin particle barrier. Red warning lights flashed and the alarms took on a more desperate tone. Standing in the middle of the horrible image of devastation and loss was the tall, slender figure of Allura.

The young woman was shaking with fear but her hands were clenched on the twin control columns by her hips. She was holding the particle barrier in place, Rolo realized with dreadful understanding. He looked back up at the view screens and gulped, pulling Nyma to his chest. If they were going to die, he would be quiznaked if they died separated.

The alerts stopped flashing and the alarms eased their terrified wail. Nyma lifted her head cautiously and gasped. Rolo followed his partner’s gaze and was astonished when he saw five colorful lions literally pushing the battlecruiser up so the ion cannon was out of firing range.

Allura was still shaking but her voice was loud and brave, even if it wavered ever so slightly. “Paladins! Get out of there now!" Allura shouted desperately. "Coran, full power to the blasters,” she commanded.

“Locked onto target,” the man Rolo didn’t recognize shouted back from the front of the bridge.

The view screen in front of Allura lit up with the targeting visualization. When it flashed bright blue and rang a single, steady tone, she thrust her hand forward and shouted, “Fire!”

The target visualization changed abruptly to red and the view screens filled with white light. Rolo couldn’t ever remember seeing anything so beautiful or so terrifying before in his life. The only thing he could remotely compare to this was a quasar. It was blinded him.

When he could finally see again, he only saw fire and destruction. Nothing was left of the Galra battlecruiser and the fighters that had surrounded it. They were completely and utterly obliterated.


	25. Cold of Separation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Thace takes a risk, Allura makes a deal, and Hunk brings out the big guns.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **A/N:** Sorry I didn't update last night. I was exhausted. I did get half of this chapter written though. But I was at a Sleep Study and they cut off the WiFi at 10pm and made us go to sleep then so I couldn't finish writing and post. So I finished today and am posting now. ^_^
> 
> I had a great trip to the Smoky Mountains National Park. The first day we had a family of 4 (YES 4!) black bears wander up to out cabin and the daddy bear tried to climb onto the deck. My dad had to grab several pots and pans and slam them together while screaming to chase them away. Talk about scary. Gatlinburg, TN, has seriously changed for the worst since I was last there I think. It's a tourist trap now where it didn't used to be. The mountains and trails are still gorgeous though. Definitely worth the trip. ^_^
> 
> Enough rambling though. On to the chapter~

He couldn’t believe it. The reports were still coming in sporadically, but every one of them agreed that Subcommander Ylvik’s battlecruiser and fleet had been defeated. Several reports claimed a single, white ship had fired the blast that obliterated the fleet. Thace found that hard to believe, but the evidence was right in front of him.

He leaned back and considered his options. Commander Prorok was currently reporting his choice to attack the Lions at Balmera 95-Vox to Emperor Zarkon. Interrupting that discussion could be disastrous. Then again, it would also humiliate the commander and further ingrain in the emperor’s mind that Prorok was nothing but a self-important leader. Also, to _not_ report this failed attack to the emperor as quickly as possible would put suspicion on Thace. That was not something Thace could afford.

Thus it was with great reluctance that he placed his hand on the communicator and spoke the words that would likely break any confidence the emperor had in Commander Prorok.

“Commander Prorok,” Thace said urgently. “I’ve received word from the fleet at Balmera 95-Vox. Subcommander Ylvik and his fleet have been defeated.”

 _“What?”_ the commander cried.

“There were no survivors except for the small scout skip in orbit monitoring the situation,” Thace continued.

 _“How is this possible?”_ Prorok demanded.

“I am not sure yet,” Thace answered honestly. “The reports are confusing. They say it was a single weapon that decimated the entire fleet in one shot.”

_“That… Such a weapon exists?”_

_“You are a fool, Prorok.”_

Thace stiffened when he heard the emperor’s voice through the communicator. He had done his best to avoid direct contact with Zarkon because he wasn’t entirely sure if his true intentions could remain hidden from that gaze for long. Especially so long as that Druid Haggar continued to slink in Emperor Zarkon’s shadow.

 _“You underestimated the power of Voltron,”_ Zarkon continued. _“Galra.”_

Thace waited a moment before realizing the emperor had been addressing him. “Y-yes great Emperor,” he said, bowing his head instinctively.

_“This weapon, from what was it fired?”_

Thace quickly double checked his information before reporting his findings. “The reports say the blast originated from a single, large, white ship in low orbit.”

 _“Ah,”_ Zarkon purred, sending the fur on the back of Thace’s neck standing up. _“The Castle of Lions. It seems we can confirm Commander Sendak has failed to bring me the prince and the Castle like he promised. Pity.”_

Thace swallowed nervously but continued to listen.

 _“This weapon, what else can you tell me about it, Galra?”_ the emperor asked.

“It was white, my Emperor,” Thace said, scanning through the reports once more. “The scout ship said it lost all visual contact with the fleet after a beam of white light struck Subcommander Ylvik’s battlecruiser. When the flames dissipated, there was nothing left of the fleet.”

Zarkon hummed thoughtfully. _“So,”_ he said softly, _“they used that weapon.”_ He chuckled. _“I wasn’t sure the prince had it in him. I look forward to meeting him in person. That should be a most enlightening discussion.”_

Thace sincerely doubted the ‘light’ part.

 _“Galra,”_ the emperor spoke again. _“What is your name?”_

“Subcommander Thace, great Emperor,” Thace replied.

 _“You have done well reporting this news so quickly,”_ Zarkon said. _“Inform the scout ship to withdraw for now. I will have Haggar send her latest experiment to deal with this mess.”_ The emperor’s voice trailed away in disgust and Thace was once again relieved he was not in Commander Prorok’s place.

“As you command, my Emperor,” Thace said and quickly cut off the communication.

He took a moment to calm his nerves before contacting the scout ship to relay the emperor’s orders. It seemed another one of the Druids Robeasts would be used. Better that than sending Prince Lotor though. At least with a Robeast, this Voltron may have a chance at victory. Hopefully.

He attached a short burst to his longer message which would only register as interference to the Galra scout ship. However, to the right ears, it would appear as an encrypted message to the rebellion.

* * *

 

 _“Okay, I feel stupid,”_ Pidge muttered, swerving her Green Lion into another loop to avoid a spray of green rays of evil.

 _“Join the club,”_ Hunk said.

 _“This isn’t working,”_ Keith grunted in annoyance, narrowly dodging yet another beam of green energy. _“We can’t keep this up for much longer. I may be a great pilot but I’ve never fought something that can shoot me from every single direction simultaneously.”_

 _“There’s not much more we can do at this point,”_ Shiro said reluctantly.

 _“Paladins,”_ Coran’s voice interrupted. _“We need to evacuate the Balmerans as soon as possible.”_

 _“What are you talking about, Coran?”_ Pidge asked.

Lance blinked, trying to clear his vision.

 _“We’re trying to land on the Balmera, but I don’t think there’s anything we can do about it at this point,”_ the adviser said gravely. _“The Balmera is dying. If we don’t start the evacuation as soon as possible, then anyone left on the Balmera will die.”_

“What?” Lance gasped. “What do you mean?”

 _“I’m sorry,”_ Coran said with regret. _“Even if we did perform the energy exchange now, I doubt it would do anything.”_

 _“We **have** to do it,”_ Hunk said. _“We promised Shay. We have to at least try.”_

Lance hung his head in despair. “It won’t make a difference, Hunk,” he said.

 _“We have to try, Lance,”_ the yellow paladin snapped. _“If your planet was still alive and there was even the slightest chance of saving it, wouldn’t you try?”_

 _“Hunk!”_ Shiro said sharply. _“That’s enough.”_

 _“No.”_ Lance sat up when he heard his sister’s voice. _“Hunk is right. We will go through with the energy exchange.”_

“It won’t do anything,” Lance pleaded. “All it will do is weaken you. You heard Coran. The amount of energy the Balmera would need to survive this is more than either of us can give.”

 _“I have to try, brother,”_ Allura said. _“I’m sorry.”_

Lance closed his eye and hung his head. He was tired, much too tired. He took a deep breath. “Then I’ll come help you,” he said finally.

 _“No,”_ Allura said, startling him. _“I need you to help the paladins keep that monster away from the Castle.”_

“I am not leaving you alone,” Lance said fiercely.

 _“You won’t be,”_ Allura said gently. _“I’ll come down first in a space jump to alert the Balmerans. Coran will follow with the Castle and we'll begin the evacuation while I perform the exchange.”_

“Allu-”

 _“Dude, no,”_ Hunk said. _“What is with you aliens and space jumps?”_

 _“Hey,”_ Keith said. _“I’ve never done a space jump before. I value my life, thank you very much.”_

 _“Yeah, well last time Lance did it, the Galra captured him,”_ Hunk said.

Lance flushed despite himself. “And I met Keith because of it,” he said, “so I wouldn’t necessarily call that a loss, would you?”

 _“Guys!”_ Shiro shouted, pouncing the Black Lion on the Robeast’s back and scraping its teeth against the metal head. _“Princess, we’ll cover you. Just hurry. The rest of you, provoke and evade.”_

 _“We **have** been provoking and evading,”_ Pidge groused.

 _“The problem is we’re really, really good at the provoking part and really, really sucky at the evading part,”_ Hunk supplied.

Lance sighed. He was so tired.

 _“Lance,”_ Allura said. _“Are you alright?”_

No. “I’m fine,” he said aloud. “I’m just a bit tired from all this.”

_“Lance-”_

“It’s okay, A- Katie,” he said, catching his slip. “I’ll meet you on the ground when I can.”

 _“Alright,”_ his sister said finally.

 _“You guys are insane!”_ a new voice exclaimed.

 _“Woah, woah, woah!”_ Pidge cried. _“Since when were Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum freed?”_

 _“Who the heck is Twiddle- whatever it was you said?”_ Keith asked.

 _“I hope you have a good reason for this, princess,”_ Shiro said sternly.

 _“Yeah,”_ Pidge grumbled. _“Whatever. They get off scot free while the rest of us will be out here trying to take on a giant robotic monster with no blind spot. Don’t worry about us. We’re fine.”_

Lance moaned.

* * *

 

“Coran, get the Castle down to the Balmera,” Allura said, stepping down from the control platform. “I’ll meet you on the surface. You two,” she said, turning to Rolo and Nyma, “what are you doing on the bridge?”

Nyma pointed to the repurposed Galra hoverbot still floating beside them. “It took us here,” she said. “The maze was electrocuting us.”

Allura’s face twisted in confusion. “Well, yes, it’s supposed to…” Her eyes widened in horrified understanding, her hands darting up to cover her mouth. “Oh quiznak. I’m so sorry.” She rushed up to the traders and began looking them over for any injuries. “I’m so sorry. That was never my intent. Are both of you alright?”

“We’re fine,” Rolo said, holding up his hands to fend off Allura’s search. “That- Rover got us out.”

Allura turned to the flashing hoverbot and patted the metal body fondly. “Thank you Rover,” she said. “You did well.”

To Nyma’s surprise, the little hoverbot beeped and spun around in what she thought was excitement. The personality this robot displayed was truly amazing.

“What was that?” Rolo asked, grounding Nyma back in the subject at hand. “That weapon you fired, it destroyed everything. What kind of weapon was that?”

The woman in front of them withdrew her hand and gave a shaky sigh, her increasingly watery eyes shining. “Something I should never have used,” she said softly. “Excuse me.”

When Allura tried to push past Nyma, the female trader stopped her. “Look,” Nyma said sternly, “I’ve never heard of a weapon with even remotely the same kind of power as that.”

“I hope to the Lions that you never do,” Allura said grimly. “I shouldn’t have used it. I- I just…” Tears brimmed her eyes and she looked away. “Coran,” she called abruptly, “ready the space jump airlock.”

“Ready on your mark, princess,” Coran answered promptly.

“Thank you,” she said. She took a deep breath through her nose and met Nyma’s eyes evenly. “As long as I’m piloting this ship, that weapon will never be used again if I can avoid it,” she said firmly.

“What if you can’t avoid it?” Nyma pressed.

“I won’t let that happen,” Allura said.

There was a fear in her eyes that Nyma recognized. Allura was terrified of that weapon. Nyma had watched this pilot arm and fire that weapon with a firm finality that chilled her to the bone. But then she’d seen Allura collapse to her knees and fight back tears as she pleaded for forgiveness from her brother over the comms.

Allura was a leader who was mostly untested. Nyma was sure this wasn’t Allura’s first battle as a commander, but she would bet this was the pilot’s first time making such a life-altering decision. If Allura planned on facing off against the Galra like the rebellion, then Nyma was certain there would be even harder decisions to make before any real impact could be felt.

“You’re optimistic,” Nyma said. “I was that way once. Both Rolo and I were.”

“What changed?” Allura asked hesitantly.

Nyma shrugged. “I saw what the Galra were capable of,” she said simply. “Why else do you think Rolo and I ended up this way?”

Allura furrowed her eyebrows, but didn’t press the issue. Some secrets were better left secrets. “If you want,” she said slowly, “you and Rolo can join me on the Balmera’s surface. If you can help Coran evacuate the Balmerans to the Castle while I perform the energy exchange, that would be greatly appreciated.”

“How many are we talking about?” Rolo asked.

“The entire population,” Allura said. “If I can’t heal the Balmera, then we have to save as many as we can before it collapses, crushing everyone still on or in the ground to death.”

Rolo paled but nodded. “Alright,” he said. “We’ll do what we can.” He crossed his arms. “But I expect payment for services rendered.”

“What?” Coran gasped. “You would put a price on saving people’s lives?”

Allura, however, narrowed her eyes at Rolo, then smirked. “We’ll discuss the price after said service is rendered,” she said. “You can’t expect me to pay you for more than what you did.”

“Or less,” Rolo added.

“Or less,” Allura agreed. “Help us, then we’ll pay you.”

Nyma glanced at her partner and nodded. “We accept your deal,” she said.

“Good,” Allura said. “Coran, let Rolo and Nyma help with the evacuations in any way they can. I’ll see you all on the surface.”

* * *

 

 _“What is that meteor thing?”_ Pidge gasped.

Hunk looked down through his Lion’s view screen and felt fear lance through him. A small, metallic object his Lion highlighted was streaking through the sky towards a large mine shaft. The Castleship followed, landing directly beside a large mine shaft.

 “I think that’s Allura,” Hunk said, fighting back the urge to throw up from the high anxiety.

 _“She’s space jumping,”_ Lance said, sounding tired and worn out.

“Hey, Lance?” Hunk called in concern. “You alright? You don’t sound too good.”

 _“I’m fine,”_ Lance said. _“Just tired.”_

 _“Lance, you need to stay sharp,”_ Shiro said. _“One wrong move and that Robeast will destroy you.”_

 _“I know,”_ the prince said. _“It’s nothing serious, trust me. I’ll get over it in an hour or so.”_

“We don’t have an hour!” Hunk cried, swerving abruptly to the left and diving to avoid a green beam that blazed too close to his Lion for comfort. “Did you get hit? What’s wrong, man?”

 _“It really isn’t serious,”_ Lance said, flying his Lion around an earthen growth from the Balmera that may have been an arch before the creature became so deathly ill. _“I’m just drained. Stop focusing on me and focus on this monster. We **cannot** let it hurt Allura or the Castle.”_

“Or the Balmerans,” Hunk said.

 _“Right,”_ Lance said, forcing his Lion to pounce on the Robeast from behind, narrowly avoiding a green beam to the gut as he did so. _“Or them.”_

 _“Lance,”_ Keith said. _“Even your sister asked if you were alright. I don’t buy this ‘not serious’ story your shoving at us.”_

 _“Look,”_ Lance said, with growing annoyance. _“We can deal with me and my definitely not serious situation **after** we take care of the monster that’s literally blowing the Balmera apart.” _

_“Lance is right,”_ Shiro said. _“Getting rid of the Robeast is our main priority right now.”_

 _“Yeah, that’d be a lot easier if we could just shoot out all of its eyes at once,”_ Pidge grumbled.

Hunk gripped his controls and grit his teeth when he felt his Lion make a rumbling growl in his mind. The next moment, the yellow machinery on the right of the Lion’s cockpit shifted, catching his attention. The yellow paladin stared at the glowing slot on his right. It was the perfect fit for his bayard which, speak of the devil, materialized from his armored this. He still hadn’t figured out how that happened, by the way.

“Um, guys?” Hunk said. “I think my Lion is trying to do something.”

 _“What do you mean?”_ Shiro asked.

“I… A slot thing just appeared. I think I’m supposed to use my bayard,” Hunk said.

 _“That’s what my Lion did when it wanted me to form the sword when we were together as Voltron,”_ Keith said. _“Shiro, if his Lion is doing that, then we should form Voltron and see what happens.”_

 _“I agree,”_ Shiro said. _“Okay guys, let’s try this again.”_

“Form thingy!” Hunk shouted, thrusting his bayard into the Yellow Lion’s slot. “Nothing’s happening.”

 _“That’s because we haven’t formed Voltron yet,”_ Shiro said.

“Oh, right. I knew that.”

 _“Form Voltron!”_ the Black paladin shouted.

The comforting strength of the earth enveloped the yellow paladin, reassuring him that he was not alone. The Yellow Lion was with him and would stay with him for as long as Hunk lived. The feeling brought a smile to Hunk’s face. They had formed Voltron. This time, when the slot opened on Hunk’s right, the yellow bayard fit and a mountain of power formed in Voltron’s arms.

 _“Woah,”_ Shiro murmured in surprise.

 _“Dude,”_ Pidge said chuckling. _“Nice gun.”_

“Oh yeah!” Hunk cheered. “We rock!”

 _“Great, we got a gun,”_ Keith said. _“So shoot that thing already before it destroys the Castle!”_

“What?”

The Robeast had lifted its arms and was coalescing its power to fire a single, huge beam of green death at the Castleship.

“Shiro!” Hunk cried. “Fire!”

The black paladin made Voltron raise the enormous gun and fired a blast of turquoise energy directly at the Robeast, striking it and knocking it back. However, the distracted monster simply turned its green fury on Voltron, firing a blazing beam at them. Hunk held on when Shiro fired again, but the rumbling growl in his mind told him they wouldn’t be able to hold out much longer.

 _“Damn it!”_ Shiro shouted in frustration. _“It’s not enough.”_

“Then I guess we’ll have to try something else,” Hunk said, pulling back on his controls like the Lion told him to do. He was surprised to see Voltron step back and deflect the Robeast’s attack up and to the side, narrowly missing the Castle’s main tower.

 _“That was too close!”_ Pidge shouted.

Hunk and Lance powered Voltron into the sky, dodging the endless beams of green as they went. There was nowhere to go. They couldn’t leave Allura and Coran and the Balmerans. They had to fight. They just couldn’t fight effectively with so little room to move. The moment they focused on attacking, the Robeast attacked forcing them to defend instead.

Shiro spun Voltron around so they faced their quarry still hovering close to the Balmera’s surface. Then something strange happened. The yellow tinted view screen in Hunk’s cockpit formed a targeting symbol over the Robeast. It zoomed in so the robot was fully visible with its arms out, charging up for its next attack. Smaller targeting circles appeared over each green ‘eye’ on both of the Robeast’s arms, its chest, and its head.

“Guys,” Hunk said, “are you seeing what I’m seeing?”

 _“Oh yeah,”_ Keith said, sounding excited. _“Let’s blow this thing back to the void where it belongs.”_

 _“I’m right behind you there,”_ Shiro said. _“Hang on, everyone. Fire!”_

Streams of white burst forth from the yellow gun, zipping down towards the Robeast in no obvious pattern. Despite their apparent chaos, every single stream struck an ‘eye’ on the Robeast until the robot sparked and seized, slumping to the ground.

“Did it work?” Hunk asked after several seconds of nothing.

 _“I-I think so,”_ Shiro said, sounding pleasantly surprised.

Hunk looked out his view screens and began laughing. “We did it,” he said breathlessly. “Guys, we did it!”

 _“Oh yeah!”_ Pidge cheered. _“Nice going with the gun, Hunk.”_

“Thanks,” Hunk said, smiling broadly. “You’re such a good Lion,” he said, petting the Yellow Lion’s cockpit dashboard fondly. “Yes you are. Yes you are. You’re a good Lion.”

 _“Are you talking to the Lion like a kitten?”_ Pidge asked incredulously.

“Hey, the Lion’s sentient,” Hunk argued, “and it deserves just as much credit for that gun thing as I do, probably more.”

The Yellow Lion purred in Hunk’s mind and the paladin got the distinct feeling that the Lion was trying to mentally nuzzle him. It brought a warm fuzzy feeling to Hunk who continued his adoring ministrations. Because he was so focused on his Lion’s mental presence, Hunk noticed the moment the Yellow Lion’s attention drifted. Curious, Hunk leaned forward in the cockpit to see out the corner of his view screen.

“Woah,” he breathed. “That is so cool.”

 _“What?”_ Shiro asked.

“You guys don’t see that?” Hunk asked. “I mean, I’m assuming the Castle is supposed to glow like that, right? Lance?”

 _“What is she doing?”_ Lance murmured.

 _“Lance?”_ Keith asked.

 _“Hey, is that Ro-thing still moving?”_ Pidge asked.

 _“Wha-?”_ Shiro began.

_“ALLURA! STOP!”_

“Lance! Wait! What are you-”

Hunk held on to his control as Voltron shuddered around him. He heard the Yellow Lion roar in pain as something pulled at them. His Lion’s pain was translated to its paladin causing Hunk to cry out in pain. It felt like something was being ripped from them. He could hear his fellow paladins screaming too.

The sound of metal screeching against metal filled Hunk’s ears followed by what felt and sounded like a rock slide. Then the power Hunk had grown to accept as a side effect of forming Voltron left him leaving him shaking and gasping from the suddenness of it. It felt like he’d woken suddenly from a dream of falling off a cliff. His adrenaline rushed through his body, his heart pounded in his chest, and his palms were sweating profusely. What-


	26. Defeat that Froze Hope

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Allura gives a damning order, Lance can't be her Sentinel, and Team Voltron loses.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **A/N:** Hope this is ok. Sorry it's 12:40am instead of midnight. But hey, I can still call it 'tonight' because I haven't slept yet. ^_^ Technicalities make the world go 'round.
> 
> Quick thing:  
>  _:Words.:_ \- is mental speech, not to be confused with  
>  _"Words."_ \- which is talk over a communicator

Allura waited until the targeting symbols on her helmet’s view screen flashed red. Then she folded her legs and activated the sequence that slowed the jumper down so she could land safely at the base of the mine shaft. It was dark down here, but enough light filtered down from the opening above that she could see several tunnels branching out from the mine shaft. Some were at the base of the shaft and others were higher up the walls crisscrossed by metal beams that probably served as support beams and makeshift bridges.

Movement to her right caught her attention and she turned towards it. A fairly large group of Balmerans were gathered at the entrance to one of the tunnels. Beyond them was a pile of rubble and the remains of what appeared to be Galra sentries.

“Are you alright?” she called making her way over to the Balmerans slowly so as not to alarm them. “My name is Allura. I’m with the paladins of Voltron. We need to get you to the surface as quickly as possible.”

“You are friends with Hunk?” one of the female Balmerans said, her yellow eyes widening in the darkness. “I am called Shay.”

“It’s so good to finally meet you, Shay,” Allura said, taking the Balmeran’s large hand in both of her own. “Hunk has told me much about you.”

“Any friend of Hunk’s is a friend of ours,” an old Balmeran said, stepping forward from the group.

Allura smile gratefully before remembering her purpose for coming. “Please,” she said urgently. “You must make your way to the surface of the Balmera. I’m going to perform the energy exchange, but if it doesn’t work then my Castle is waiting to start evacuating as many of you as possible.”

Shay pulled her hand away and turned to her people, bowing her head. “We cannot go with you,” she said sadly. “We have spoken to the others and have all agreed. The Balmera is our home. We cannot leave it. If She dies, then we are ready to die with her.”

“No,” Allura whispered in horror. “No, you mustn’t! Please. I understand the loss of your world. My home planet was also lost. My people, my… There are only three people left of my race including myself. Upon our deaths, Alteans will be no more. But we won’t stop fighting! You can’t give up. Not when there’s a chance left.”

“Then it is true,” the wizened Balmeran said, stepping up to Allura. Her eyes were old but sharp and clear. “You are the princess Hunk spoke of.”

“I am,” Allura nodded. “Yes.”

The elder gazed down at Allura’s feet and smiled gently, humming. “Then tell our people yourself,” she said. “Let your words, your emotions, carry to our people.”

Allura furrowed her brows in confusion. “How?” she asked. “I’m not Balmeran. I can’t-”

“But you can,” the elder said, gesturing to the ground beneath the princess’s feet. “You are.”

Allura looked down and was awestruck by a soft aura emanating from the ground itself. Perhaps the Balmera sensed she was Altean and was trying to help her. Tears blurred her eyes. The magnificent creature knew it was dying was still wished to save those that called it home. Allura knelt and placed both of her hands on the Balmera and called out with her mind.

 _:Hear me,:_ she said. _:I am Princess Allura of Altea and I have come to fulfill an oath made by my people in my stead. I will do all I can to heal the Balmera. But should I fail in this endeavor, please come to the surface.:_

“They can hear me?” she asked out loud, lifting her gaze to the Balmerans.

The elder smiled and placed a large hand on the princess’s helmet and knelt so her gnarled knees rested on the ground. “Yes, young one,” she said. “We can hear you.”

Allura took a deep breath and bowed her head, closing her eyes and focusing on the message she wished to communicate.

 _:Do not let the death of your beloved world mean your deaths as well,:_ she pleaded. _:My world, my home planet, no longer exists. It was destroyed by the Galra long ago, but I and my brother and adviser live on. We are the last of our race. When we die, the Alteans will be no more.:_

Tears leaked from her closed eyes and fell to the ground below as a wave of emotion she had struggled to keep at bay bubbled to the surface. _:Please, do not give up,:_ she said. _:You all deserve the chance to live. Don’t let the Galra win now. Not now that you can be free. Please.:_ she sobbed. _:Don’t disappear.:_

Strong arms with skin like leather scales wrapped around Allura’s shoulders, holding her gently as the princess wept.

“Your words have touched our hearts,” the elder whispered to the princess in her embrace. “We will go to the surface and aid you in the exchange ceremony. We may not succeed, but it will give the others a chance to join us and escape.”

Allura drew strength from the elder’s comforting presence. “I… I have done something that I…”

“Hush, child,” the elder murmured. “I will listen after you accomplish your goal.”

Nodding, Allura sat back and gathered herself, controlling her emotions as she was taught during her studies as a diplomat. But no matter how hard she tried, she would always be an Altean. Her emotions were strong, and the desire to hide them went against everything her people stood for. She wanted so badly to weep for her lost home, her family, her everything. At least she still had Lance and Coran.

She couldn’t fathom how Coran was doing so well. She had yet to see her adviser mourn or cry at all and that disturbed her. Lance had begun to lash out as he dealt with his sadness. But even he had begun to hide himself from her. They were all she had left. She would not leave them.

Just like she wouldn’t leave these people to suffer the same fate as her people did. The Balmera would not die. She would not let it.

“Coran, can you hear me?” she called.

 _“Loud and clear, princess,”_ her adviser answered. _“I’m landing the Castle now.”_

“Good,” Allura said looking up. Sure enough, the Castle of Lions was slowly settling near the rim of the mine shaft she currently stood in. “Rolo, Nyma, are you there?”

 _“You bet,”_ Rolo said. _“A deal’s a deal, after all.”_

The princess grinned. “Then take one of the pods and help ferry as many of the Balmerans as you can to the surface.”

 _“Will do,”_ Rolo said. _“Be down in a few ticks.”_

“Thank you,” Allura said. “I’ll fly back up and prepare for the energy exchange.”

 _“Princess,”_ Coran said gently. _“I know I’m just your adviser, but I have to ask. Are you sure about this? I… You and Lance are all I have left now. I honestly don’t know what I would do if-”_

“Coran,” Allura said, cutting him of before he could voice that fear. “I’ll be fine. I promise. Just one thing, and pass this on to Rolo and Nyma as well, if you would.”

_“Anything, princess.’_

“Don’t let Lance help me,” she commanded.

* * *

 

Coran whirled around when he heard the horrible screech of metal scraping against metal. The sight that greeted him was alarming to say the least. His jaw dropped open as he watched the legendary defender shudder and contort as the Blue Lion that current served as Voltron’s right leg struggled to break free of the unification. It was Lance.

“What the quiznak is going on?” Nyma cried, staring up at Voltron.

“It’s Lance,” Coran said, fighting past his horror. “Lance is Allura’s Sentinel. Other races called the position Watcher, Guardian, Keeper, any number of things.”

“And this is important why!?” Rolo demanded.

“Remember what I told you?” the adviser said, facing Rolo and Nyma directly. “No matter what happens, do not let Lance near Allura. Do whatever you have to short of killing to keep Lance away. We cannot allow him to get close to the princess.”

“Yeah, I remember,” Nyma said, dropping to a defensive crouch when the Blue Lion broke free scattering Voltron into the five separate Lion. “But there had better be some serious explaining going on after this.”

“Agreed,” Rolo said, backing Nyma up. “I signed up to help evacuate refugees. Not fight against a giant robot lion while some girl heals a Balmera with a beam of light. Who makes flying lions anyway?”

Coran ignored the remark in favor of watching the Blue Lion take flight, only to turn in mid-air and land on the ground facing the Castle and the small team of defenders. The Lion roared as its pridemates stumbled away from the spot where Voltron had been in unsteady movements.

Rolo cursed. And Nyma gave a cry of surprise when the Lion lowered its head and opened it mouth so its pilot could escape the cockpit. Coran braced himself when he saw Lance tumble out of the Blue Lion, scramble to his feet, and run across the space separating him from his sister.

“Allura!” Lance screamed.

Coran waited until Lance got close before diving at the blue paladin. Not expecting to be stopped, Lance didn’t react fast enough to dodge the adviser’s arms. Coran managed to wrap his arms around the prince’s stomach but could barely keep his grip on the boy. Lance was wiry and knew how to handle his body. Thankfully, Nyma kicked Lance’s feet out from under him and Rolo grabbed one of Lance’s arms and pinned it behind the prince’s back.

Unfortunately, during the struggle, Lance somehow yanked Coran around so he faced the princess for the first time since she began the energy exchange. Bathed in the pale blue-tinted white light from the ship and surrounded by Shay and her family, Princess Allura glowed like a star. She was beautiful and powerful. Coran prayed to the Lions that she survived this.

“Allura!” Lance screamed. “Allura, stop! Please. Don’t do this. It’ll take more than you can give. You'll die!”

Coran fought back his tears as he held the prince tighter. He couldn’t lose these two children; they were all he had left. They were his family in everything but blood. He’d lost his own family and his dearest friend in the Great War. He couldn’t lose Allura or Lance now. He would heed the princess’s command. But he doubted Lance would survive long if she died. Then Keith would follow his mate one way or another leaving Coran alone with three humans from a world he’d never heard of before and an incomplete Voltron. There would be no hope left.

These children were his hope.

“Don’t leave me!” Lance cried between tears. “I don’t want to be alone. Don’t leave me alone!”

Coran watched the aura surrounding the princess intensify. It took him a moment to realize the new light was coming from Lance. “Quiznak," he cursed. “He’s resonating.”

“He’s what?” Nyma demanded from where she was holding the prince’s legs in place so he couldn’t get up and try to run.

“You mean like an instrument?” Rolo asked over the prince’s screams.

Coran managed a nod as he held on to the prince with all his strength. “It’s part of being the Sentinel,” he gasped. “The Sentinel always knows when the Heir is in danger. They can give their own quintessence to the Heir to use as they please.”

“The frak is ‘quintessence’?” Rolo demanded. “And why is he glowing?!”

“I just said-”

“Ugh, _men!”_ Nyma cried.

Without another word, she pushed herself up from Lance’s feet and ran around Rolo and so she was in front of the prince. She almost hesitated when she saw Lance’s face. His lone, blue eye was wide and crazed, focused solely on his sister. His streamers of white light like silken scarves began to extend out towards Allura, like a mother reaching for a child or a lover reaching for their beloved.

She harrumphed and slammed her fist directly into the prince’s stomach. Lance doubled over and coughed before slumping limply in the men’s arms. Standing straight, she tossed one of her yellow appendages over her shoulder and looked up at the dumbfounded men.

“What?” she huffed. “I stopped him, didn’t I?”

Rolo released his hold of Lance’s arm and let the prince’s full weight fall into the adviser’s arms. “Yeah, you did,” he said, shaking his head. “Don’t know why I didn’t think of that.”

“Because you're men,” Nyma said, dismissively. “You always have to do things the hard way.”

Coran cradled the unconscious prince in his arm, holding the boy close to his chest. It was times like these that he was proud of following the children into the pods. He never regretted the decision; there was nothing left to regret. His family was lost to the Great War one way or another. If he hadn’t come, then Allura and Lance would have been alone and that was unforgivable. No, he never regretted the decision.

He just doubted his usefulness on occasion. But now, holding Lance like this, he knew his purpose. He was the adviser to this little team he optimistically called ‘family,’ but he was also the stability the prince and princess needed. He would make sure neither of them space jumped without a helmet, or fought on an empty stomach, tried to die in the other’s place.

The light from Allura and the Castle suddenly blazed capturing the attention of everyone present. Coran looked up, squinting at the luminescence, and saw Allura fall to her knees and place both of her hands on the Balmera’s surface. The light that had surrounded her now flowed through her into the ground below, sweeping across the landscape like a sea of turquoise-tinted white. It was breathtakingly beautiful.

Or it was, until the Robeast stood from where it had fallen. This wasn’t over yet.

* * *

 

 _“What the quiznak was that?”_ Pidge gasped, her image appearing in Keithek’s right view screen.

Keithek just shook his head, still trying to wrap his mind around the abrupt separation and loss of power. Fortunately, Shiro answered.

 _“Lance just broke off,”_ the black paladin said. _“Hunk, are you okay?”_

 _“Yeah,”_ the yellow paladin said. _“I can’t stop shaking though.”_

“I know,” Keithek said. “Neither can I.”

Keithek studied his view screens, searching for the Blue Lion. Sensing his desire, the Red Lion showed the Blue Lion where it sat covered by its signature blue particle barrier. Keithek licked his lips nervously. If the Blue Lion’s barrier was up, that meant Lance wasn’t inside. So where was Lance?

The Red Lion turned its head and zoomed in on the area close to the base of the Castle. Keithek’s breath caught as he tried to come to terms with what he was seeing. Princess Allura stood in the center of a circle of turquoise light that shone from both the Castle above her head and the Balmera beneath her feet. Five Balmerans knelt around her with their hands pressed to the glowing ground. Was this the energy exchange Allura and Coran had mentioned?

He was distracted by movement in the lower part of the screen. When he glanced at it, his eyes grew wide in disbelief. Coran, Rolo, and Nyma were holding Lance in place, preventing him from moving any further. However, their efforts were for naught. Gossamer spectres of pure, untainted light were literally sweeping out from the prince’s body towards the princess. It was eerie and yet beautiful.

Until Nyma punched Lance in the gut and the spectres vanished. Furious, Keithek disengaged his controls and leaped out of his pilot chair. He ran to the hatch in the back antechamber that led to the ramp in his Lion’s mouth, feeling the Red Lion lower her head so he could climb out more easily.

The moment he stepped outside however, he was momentarily blinded by a wave of light that flowed over the Balmera’s surface like a blanket, coating it completely. Then it was gone and Keithek was left standing in front of his Lion dazed and blinded. Frell it all, his eyes weren’t made for bright lights.

Blinking rapidly to recover his sight, Keithek began running towards where he recalled Lance was. His eyesight recovered slowly as he ran forward until the remnants of the light were just blots of blackish-green across his vision. He tripped over his own feet when he was tried to avoid a rock in his path and lost his balance. Someone caught his arm and helped steady him.

“Thanks,” he muttered. “Lance?”

“He’s fine, I think.”

Keithek blinked and lifted his still blotchy gaze to the person helping him. “Rolo?”

“Don’t sound so disappointed,” the trader said. “Besides, I’d be more worried about your friends right now.”

“What? Why?”

Rolo nodded in to the left and Keithek followed his gaze as best he could and felt his stomach plummet to the ground. The Robeast was standing. It wasn’t defeated yet and Voltron wasn’t there to fight it. With Lance in the state he was in, they couldn’t form Voltron even if they wanted to. Keithek glanced over his shoulder and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the Black, Yellow, and Green Lions take flight and engage the damaged but still functional Robeast.

Thankfully, from what Keithek could tell, only the beast's chest eye was still working. It was powerful, but limited in direction. “Shiro,” Keithek said into his comm unit, “do you need any help?”

_“I think-”_

Hunk dodged the Robeast’s chest beam and slammed head first into the source. The force of the Yellow Lion’s impact knocked the Robeast back several spans where it landed on its back and remained.

 _“I think we did it,”_ Shiro said.

 _“Did you see that?”_ Hunk said, laughing breathlessly. _“I totally pulled a battering ram on that thing.”_

 _“Don’t tempt me to start singing ‘Wrecking Ball’,”_ Pidge warned.

 _“Oh Pele, please don’t,”_ Hunk said quickly. _“Pidge, I’m freaking begging you. Don’t.”_

 _“Keith, are Lance and Allura alright?”_ Shiro asked, landing his Lion next to Lance’s Blue Lion.

“Lance is unconscious,” Rolo said, leaning over so his voice could be picked up by Keithek’s helmet microphone. “The princess is awake but weak. The Balmerans are taking care of her.”

 _“You’ll understand if I don’t take your word for it,”_ Shiro said, stepping out of his Lion onto the ground. “You didn’t exactly leave a good first impression.”

Rolo turned to the approaching black paladin and shrugged. “I did what I had to to survive,” he said. “When you fight the Galra long enough, you’ll begin to understand.”

“I _have_ fought the Galra long enough,” Shiro said fiercely, deliberately crossing his arms over his chest so his Druid-enhanced prosthetic gleamed. “But if it’s a choice between them or my home and everyone else in this universe, then I choose my home and the universe.”

Keithek rolled his eyes, relieved when he noticed his sight was almost back to normal. “You guys fight it out,” he grumbled. “Coran, is Lance alright?”

“He’s as well as can be expected,” Coran replied. The adviser looked up and jerked his head indicating Keithek could join him on the ground. “They both just need a good, undisturbed sleep. But they may need to use one of the healing pods just to be sure.”

Keithek placed his hand on Lance bandaged right cheek and frowned. “He’s cold again,” he murmured. He pressed the backs of his fingers to Lance’s forehead and his frown deepened when he felt the same biting cold. “Why is he so cold?”

“It’s a side effect of his bond with the Blue Lion,” Coran said, startling Keithek. “I’d wager your own body temperature will be running slightly higher than normal. Well, your old normal, that is.”

“My what?”

“Guys!” Hunk cried, coming over to join them with Pidge by his side. “What did we miss?”

“Hey.”

“Rolo and Shiro are sizing each other up,” Keithek said.

“Hey.”

“Lance is unconscious and cold,” Keithek continued.

“Hey!”

“And the princess is recovering from whatever that-”

“HEY!”

“-was that she did. Hey, _what?”_ he snapped at Nyma who’d kept interrupting him.

But Nyma wasn’t looking at him. She was staring with wide eyes and pointing at something beyond Keithek’s shoulder. He looked back and paled.

“No,” he breathed.

“Oh Pele,” Hunk whimpered.

“I thought we beat that thing?” Pidge cried, drawing her bayard. It may not be of much use, but its weight was comforting.

Keithek followed the green paladin’s example and drew his own bayard activating it immediately. He stood and placed himself directly between Lance and the Robeast that by some twisted miracle still lived.

“We can’t fight it,” Shiro said, fear evident on his face. “We can’t make it to our Lions.”

“Even if we did, we’d be down a paladin,” Keithek said, daring a glance back at Lance. “So no Voltron.”

“No,” Allura said just loud enough for them to hear.

They’d lost.


	27. Brisk Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the Balmera saves its saviors, Hunk has a meltdown because Pidge is Pidge, and Lance dreams.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **A/N:** Hey y'all. First off, I've officially changed Pidge's age to fourteen like the original canon. I didn't even realize her age when I first started writing this series so...yeah. Anyway, as of this chapter, I've fixed it. Don't worry, I've dealt with the issue in the chapter.
> 
> Secondly, I have some good news and some bad news.
> 
>  **Bad news:** This fic is almost over. There's probably only one or two more real chapters left to go.  
>  **Good news:** The last chapter of this fic on AO3 will be a preview of the sequel which I'm tentatively calling _Crystal_ and will cover the Crystal Venom arc as well as leading up, maybe even including the season finale arc. Immediately after posting the preview chapter, I'll upload the first chapter of the sequel and connect it to the _Warmth_ series on AO3. If you're only reading this fic on Fanfiction.net, then instead of a preview chapter and an entirely different fic, you'll just get the first chapter of Part 3, Crystal.
> 
> Sound good? Fear not readers. I'm nowhere near done with this story. This is now my pet NaNoWriMo project and you know what that means? I good +50,000 words still to come. XD
> 
> Lastly, did y'all know the _Voltron: Legendary Defender_ OST is available to listen to on Youtube? I listened to the whole playlist on loop while writing this chapter. Check it out: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnxNqFHsGpEHqxVswjMuP-1X921rHlNZR

This was it. He’d seen battle. He knew when he lost. It wasn’t a feeling he experienced often in the arena, but in secret… Now, staring up at the face of the thing that would destroy not only him but his friends, an entire race, and an entire planet, made him feel small and insignificant.

It couldn’t be the end. Other than Pidge, he’d only known these people for a week or so at best. So much had happened. He’d finally begun to feel like he had a purpose, like he belonged. Without him even realizing it, this group of ragtag, insane people had become his family. He couldn’t lose them so soon. He couldn’t lose them ever!

He glanced over at Princess Allura. She was leaning heavily on a Balmeran female who was also staring up at the giant Robeast in terror. If he let them die here, then he’d failed. He would not fail. He couldn’t give up. Not now, not ever.

Shiro grit his teeth and turned back to the Robeast in fury. He activated his weaponized right arm, feeling the uncomfortable thrum of the Druid manufactured energy, and the shield from his armor’s left arm. He was ready to die here if he had to. He didn’t want to. But if it meant saving his companions, even if it was just one life, he was ready to die. He crouched by his fellow paladins, his friends, and waited.

The Robeast gave a gravely roar and Shiro stiffened, lifting his shield. The monster’s glowing eye in its chest began powering up, readying for another and most likely final blast. The energy of Shiro’s arm shield would hardly last long against the Robeast’s green eye beam, but hopefully it would at least protect Allura.

Then the eye sparked and the radioactive green dimmed. Confused, Shiro narrowed his eyes and lowered his shield just enough to see the Robeast’s entire body. Something sparkled in the eerie orange light of the Balmera’s atmosphere. Shiro cautiously looked down at the Robeast’s feet and stood straight in shock.

Massive crystals that glittered a clear sea green pierced through the Balmera’s surface and climbed up the Robeast’s body. The green eye on the monster’s chest sparked and sputtered before a sea green crystal punched through the metal. A clump of rough-hewn crystal thrust through the monster’s head, nearly splitting it in two. The crystals continued to grow up the Robeast’s body, slicing through the metal and expanding as it went until it completely encased the monster. Only then did the crystals slow their growth, eventually stopping entirely.

Shiro gaped at the crystal coffin that had effectively buried the Robeast alive in awful amazement. The Lions had struggled against the Galra-made monstrosity, and even Voltron hadn’t had much luck against the Robeast. But somehow, the Balmera defeated the Robeast in mere seconds.

“Wow,” he whispered.

“Did the Balmera just…save us?” Pidge gasped.

“I-I think so,” Keith murmured.

“Who’s a good Balmera? You are,” Hunk said in his baby talk voice.

Shiro blinked and turned to where the yellow paladin was on his hands and knees petting the ground. He really shouldn’t have been surprised by the sight, but he still was. It was certainly unexpected.

“Who ate the nasty monster? You did,” Hunk said, moving his hands back and forth as if scratching the Balmera like a dog. “Yes you did.”

“Hunk?” Shiro asked hesitantly. “What are you doing?”

“Hey, no judging, Shiro,” Hunk said, holding up a single finger to stop the black paladin’s argument. “The Balmera is alive and it _wuvs my scwatches_ ,” he said in his baby talk voice again. “Don’t you? Yes, you do. Yes, you do.”

Allura approached on wobbly legs, still supported by the Balmeran female. “You Humans are very…um.” She paused, searching for the right word. “Unique,” she said finally.

“I was going to say weird, but I guess ‘unique’ works too,” Keith said.

“Hey,” Pidge said, putting her fists on her hips and glaring at Keith and Allura. “Did you just insult us?”

“I did,” Keith said, raising his hand willingly. “I think she tried not to, though,” he added, pointing his thumb over his shoulder at the princess.

Pidge glared at the halfbreed, then smirked and crossed her arms smugly over her chest. Keith met the green paladin glare-for-glare, refusing to back down from the challenge she presented him. When all she did was snicker at him, Shiro could see Keith’s hackles rise. The red paladin’s gold and violet eyes gleamed, but Shiro wouldn’t step in until things got serious.

“You do realize you’re basically a humanoid cat, right?” Pidge jeered, flashing her teeth in a challenging grin.

Keith growled and things just got serious.

“Alright, enough you two,” Shiro said. “Keith, stand down. She’s baiting you. Pidge, stop teasing Keith.”

“But it’s so much fun,” she whined, giving Shiro huge puppy dog eyes.

“No, Pidge,” Shiro said sternly.

To his surprise, Pidge backed down in full sulk mode. Hunk pointed at the green paladin and cackled madly. “You got scolded by Space Dad,” Hunk crowed, falling on his back with laughter.

That got a small smirk out of Pidge. “Yeah,” she said, brightening to the idea. “Yeah, I did.” She turned her sharp eyes to Shiro. “So you’ve finally accepted your position as Space Dad?” she asked.

Shiro groaned and dropped his head into his hands. “Oh my god,” he groaned.

Now Pidge and Hunk were laughing at him and he was sure there was a blush in his cheeks. Even Keith was snickering now. He took some relief in knowing that the laughter was helping them deal with the lingering adrenaline and near death experience so he didn’t fight back, much.

“Allura?” he said, lifting his head when he was sure his blush wasn’t as intense as it had been. He squared his shoulders and looked over at the princess in concern. “Are you alright?”

The princess nodded, pushing herself away from the Balmeran supporting her with a smile. “I am, Shiro,” she said. “Shay helped me. Thank you,” she said, offering the Balmeran a smile.

“You’re Shay?” Shiro asked, turning his gaze to the Balmeran.

She smiled. “I am,” she said. “And please, do not thank me, princess. For it is we who must offer you our thanks. The Balmera lives. She too offers you her thanks. You have given these ones,” she gestured to her family and by extension her people, “back our home.”

“Yes,” the Elder said, stepping forward and taking both Allura’s and Shiro’s hands in hers. “The actions you displayed today have brought something to these ones that we have not seen for years beyond memory.” She smiled and placed Shiro’s hand on top of Allura’s, her smile softening when Shiro blushed. “Hope.”

Shiro ducked his head and couldn’t bring himself to look at his hand clasping Allura’s for longer than a few seconds. It made him feel warm, or maybe that was just the blood rushing to his face. Judging from the Elder’s soft laughter, his flaming cheeks hadn’t gone unnoticed. But no matter how embarrassing this was, he couldn’t bring himself to pull his hand away from the princess’s. In the end, it was a groan that startled them both, causing them to jump apart.

Allura whirled to where Coran still knelt on the ground with a slowly waking Lance in his arms. Without pausing to consider what just happened, she hurried to her brother’s side, reaching out to steady him when he sat up on his own. “Lance, are you alright?” she asked.

The prince nodded, wincing and rubbing his stomach. “Quiznak, that girl has a fist of murder,” he muttered.

“I heard that,” Nyma said, standing so her weight was cocked on one hip.  She waited until both royal siblings looked up at her before smirking. “Saved your life though, didn’t it? I’m a regular hero. Frell, I deserve a parade.”

Lance frowned and looked back at Allura in cold fury. The force of his anger surprised the princess who leaned back a bit. “You promised you wouldn’t go that far,” he hissed. “You promised me you wouldn’t go that far.”

“I didn’t,” Allura said, meeting Lance with a frown of her own. “I handled it just fine.”

“You made me resonate!” Lance cried. “You were dying!”

“What?” Shiro gasped. “Princess, is La-”

“He’s exaggerating, Shiro,” Allura said quickly. “I wasn’t dying.”

“You _were_ ,” Lance snapped. “Wh-” He stopped and studied his sister closely, his eye trailing over her entire body. "Why are you even alive right now?”

“She gave to the Balmera,” the Elder said gently, placing a calming hand on the prince’s shoulder drawing his attention. “So the Balmera gave back.” She gestured to the crystalline Robeast towering over them in the light of the setting sun.

Lance followed the Balmeran’s hand and felt his mouth drop open at the sight of the encased Robeast. He staggered to his feet in shock, wobbling slightly when a wave of dizziness nearly knocked him back to the ground. He reached out blindly for support and found it in a strong arm that caught his hand and tugged him back so his back pressed against someone's chest.

“What…happened?” Lance breathed.

“The Balmera killed it,” Keith said, his voice right next to Lance’s ear. “Allura healed it and it saved us. We left our Lions and couldn’t fight back. We would’ve lost if the Balmera hadn’t acted.”

Lost. Died.

Lance heaved a sigh and leaned back against Keith’s chest weakly, rubbing the palms of his hands over his eyes. He hissed when he rubbed too hard against his bandaged eye socket. Keith gripped Lance’s shoulders firmly, rubbing them in a soothing manner until Lance was ready to stand on his own.

“What happened back there?” Keith asked softly. “That light, what was it?”

Lance glanced back at Keith before looking away. “It’s-”

“Say it’s nothing and I might throttle you,” Pidge said, startling both the red and blue paladins. “You broke up Voltron without even bothering to think about the consequences.”

“I did consider the consequences,” Lance countered. “They were worth it.”

“You-” Pidge fumed. “That _hurt!_ You broke off and left us to fight that Robeast alone.”

“I thought it was defeated,” Lance argued.

“Still! You didn’t ask us, you didn’t even hint that you even _wanted_ to break up,” she yelled. “You just forced us apart. My Lion is still not completely recovered from that.”

“I won’t apologize for what I did,” the prince said firmly. “But I will apologize for hurting you and your Lion. That wasn’t my intention.”

“Then what exactly was your intention?” Pidge demanded.

“You wouldn’t understand.”

“Don’t talk down to me,” the green paladin sneered. “I may be short, but I’m not stupid. I’m a fucking genius, I’ll have you know. I got into the Galaxy Garrison at only fourteen and did just fine, thank you very much.”

“Wait, Pidge?” Hunk said, placing a large hand on Pidge’s shoulder. “You got in at what age?”

Pidge flushed and shifted awkwardly. “Nothing,” she mumbled.

“Hypocrite,” Lance said.

Pidge glared at the prince, then spat, “Fourteen, ok? I was fourteen!”

Hunk blinked. “Wait,” he said slowly, lifting both of his hands up in a gesture of surrender. “You’re fourteen years old?” he gasped. “Like _fourteen_ fourteen? Like four plus ten? Like still not of drinking age fourteen?”

Pidge flushed and batted Hunk’s hands away. “I _was_ fourteen,” she said. “I’m fifteen now, thank you very much.”

Hunk gawked. He spun to Shiro and pointed a finger at him accusingly. “You _knew!”_ he cried. “You totally knew! You knew she was fourteen and never told us! Never told me! Oh my god. Holy Pele.” The yellow paladin slapped his hands on his cheeks and began panicking. “Oh Pele, you're fourteen. Dude, how do you know the things you know? How do you know about s- you know and all those bad words and- Holy crap! My mind. It’s melting. Oh my god.”

* * *

 

Pidge just stood there watching Hunk have a mental breakdown in shock. In her defense, she didn’t mean to scare Hunk so badly. She didn’t mean to scare him at all. She was just being honest. Why was her age such a big deal? It seemed to be an even bigger deal then her apparent gender had been. How ironic was that?

“Dude,” she said, reaching out and hesitantly patting Hunk on the shoulder. “It’s okay. Really. It’s no big deal.”

“No big _deal?!”_ Hunk shouted. “You're flippin’ _fourteen!_ You’re a freaking genius and you’re a soldier and your fourteen! Do you have any idea how many kinds of wrong that is?”

“Hey,” Pidge said, beginning to feel irritated and slightly offended. “I’m perfectly capable of holding my own.”

Hunk shook his head violently side to side. “No, no, no, no. You don’t get it,” he said. “You’re not even old enough to legally have se- you know!”

“Can you even say the word?” Pidge wondered aloud.

“And you're fighting in a war against an enemy,” Hunk continued.

“Yes,” Pidge said slowly. “We all are.”

“But you’re a kid!”

“Take that back!” Pidge demanded vehemently. “I am _not_ a kid.”

“But you are!” Hunk shouted back, covering his ears with his hands and squeezing his eyes shut. “You’re a kid fighting in a war. You’re a child warrior! That’s wrong. That’s so, so wrong!”

Pidge’s face fell slack in surprise. “You…” She hesitated, unsure of what to think. “My age doesn’t bother you?”

“Yes! It does!” Hunk cried.

“Not what I meant. Not what I mean,” Pidge said, waving her hands dismissively. “I meant…” She bit her lip and her shoulders hunched over slightly. “I meant my age and the fact I’m fighting bothers you? Not that I _can’t_ fight, but that I’m fighting at all?”

“Yes!” Hunk said. “It’s wrong. Child soldiers are a huge no-no. That’s a huge human rights violation. Not to mention it’s just so freaking wrong. It’s throwing my moral compass around like crazy, man.”

Pidge slumped, not knowing what to say. “Oh,” was all she could manage. After a moment, she turned to Shiro with wide, pleading eyes. “Shiro?”

Shiro pressed his lips together grimly but said nothing. He just bowed his head and sighed heavily. Pidge blinked and grimaced looking back Hunk who was honest to God bawling his eyes out. It was messy and loud and Pidge did not know what to do. She wasn’t exactly a people person to begin with. She wasn’t good with dealing with other people’s emotions and Hunk was a huge ball of crazy emotions.

“Um,” she started. “It’s okay. I mean…” She huffed. “It’s not okay but it’s okay. Look,” she sighed, “I’m not good with words, but it really is okay. I’m not doing this because I have to. I’m doing this because I _want_ to.”

Hunk was still crying, but not as loudly. Maybe this was working?

“I joined the Garrison to find Matt and my dad,” she continued. “I did that because I wanted to. I came with you in the Yellow Lion because I wanted to. Okay, so I kind of had to, too, considering I was _in_ the Lion and we’d basically kidnapped Shiro from the middle of the Garrison, but _anyway,_ the point is that I did it because I _wanted_ to. I’m fighting now because I _want_ to.”

Hunk was still crying. This was really beginning to tick her off.

“Okay look, dumbass,” she said, planting her feet apart so she faced her friend squarely and propped her fists on her hips. “If someone kidnapped your family, possibly enslaved them or who knows what else, would you let something as basic as your fucking _age_ stop you from doing something about it? No, you wouldn’t, because your heart is too damn big. I’m doing this to save my family and save this universe. Let me be a hero, okay?”

Hunk was blubbering now, but at least he wasn’t crying his eyes out anymore. Pidge groaned. She really wasn’t cut out for this kind of shit.

“I don’t understand,” Allura said. “Is something wrong with your age?”

“It-” Shiro hummed, crossing his arms in a visible withdrawal. “It’s complicated.”

“Okay,” Keith said. “I have about had it with all of you. We are going to sit down and talk about this. All of this. As soon as we get out of here, you are all going to sit down and talk. Lance, you too.”

The prince huffed and looked away in frustration. “You can’t tell me what to do,” he mumbled.

“No,” Allura said. “But Keith’s right. We do need to talk.” She met Lance’s gaze with her own and was saddened when he was the first to look away. She bit her lip but held firm. “Coran.”

“Yes princess,” her adviser said, standing and walking towards her.

“Please help the Balmerans with-”

“Nonsense, child,” the Elder said. “We have long taken care of our own. Those ones need rest,” she said, nodding to the paladins. “The threat has passed. For now, rest. You have offered aid to our people. Now our people offer aid to you.”

“We didn’t do it for the glory, ma’am,” Shiro said quietly. “We did it because it was the right thing to do. No one deserves to go through what you and this world went through. No one.”

“Your words are true,” Shay said. “But be that as it may, allow us to give back to you. Just this once. It would honor these ones great.”

Shiro hesitated, casting his gaze to the princess for a final answer. Pidge rolled her eyes and spoke before Allura could. “Well, if you insist, I could do with some food,” she said.

“Food?” Hunk asked, eyes puffy from crying and cheeks blotchy and shining from tear trails.

“Pidge,” Shiro said.

“What?” she said. “They offered. Food isn’t a big deal. A small meal, then a nap. This time, we _all_ stay together,” she added, tossing a glare Rolo and Nyma’s way. “No kidnapping of team members or I’ll start electrocuting certain people.” She held up her still activated bayard, smirking when the buzzing green blade had the two traders back away warily.

“Easy, Pidge,” Keith said, hefting his bayard and activating it. “I may take you up on that offer and join in.”

Lance groaned. “You do that,” he said, stepping out of Keith’s hold. “Allura, we’ll talk later. Right now, I’m going to bed.”

“You need to eat,” Allura said.

“I’m not hungry,” he said walking towards the Castle. “See you all later.”

“Hey,” Pidge said. “What’d I just say about we _all_ staying together? Especially you. You seem to have bad luck when you’re alone.”

“I won’t be alone,” he said.

“Dude,” Pidge said, giving the prince a disdainful glare. “Who’re you going to be with, hm? Everyone’s out here.”

“Not everyone,” Lance said. He met Allura’s gaze for a moment. Her eyes widened and she nodded in understanding.

“Wait,” Hunk said. “Are there more ancient aliens in the Castle that we should know about?”

“I’ll have the mice guide you,” she said, closing her eyes to call her furry friends.

“I’ll meet them at the door,” Lance said and turned to make his way to back to the Castle.

“Hello?” Hunk said, waving a hand. “Ancient alien people? Are there more of them? It’s not a ghost, right? Oh Pele, please tell me there aren’t any ghosts in the Castle.”

* * *

 

The small light blue and gray mice sat on Lance’s right shoulder and the pink and green mice sat on his left as he made his way down the silent halls of the Castle of Lions. He had avoided this room for a while now, due to the mess of emotions inside of him; he wanted to try to understand them before coming here. But he knew now that he couldn’t sort through them on his own. It was time to face his fear.

He waved his hand by the access panel and the door slid open with a soft hiss. The room inside was dark and lifeless save for a single glass cylinder filled with light swirling within. Then there was a field of grass and juniberry flowers blossoming at his feet. Tall mountains with steep slopes plunged into deep valleys carved by thundering rivers from the glaciers. Paths crisscrossed the mountainsides dotted by lanterns to light the way. The sky was darkening as the sun set, heralding the long wintry night.

Light from the Daystar still streamed from beyond the distant mountains over the ocean, sparkling just at the edge of his sight. The wind blew across the field on the mountain ridge, bending the grass and sending spores from the juniberry flowers floating into the atmosphere to dance with the starbugs. The clouds burned bright orange close to the setting sun, darkening to a deep fuchsia and then purple the closer to the oncoming night they were. Stars and the engineered rings orbiting the planet twinkled dimly in the night half of the sky. One of the rings was close to the setting sun, shining gold in the fading light and casting a long shadow across the land.

Altea.

“Welcome home, my son.”

Lance closed his eye and allowed himself to believe that he was home.


	28. Ice Cold Truth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Lance and Alfor finally have a father-son moment while the paladins finally pry some intriguing information from the Alteans.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **A/N:** And the explaining begins. Hope y'all like my take on the Lion/paladin relationships. ^_^ I've roughly edited this already but seeing as it's 1am now my local time, I'm going to bed. I'll edit this seriously tomorrow. Although, considering AO3's delay in sending notification emails for chapter updates and comment posts/replies, I'll probably have finished editing it seriously by the time some of you read this.
> 
> Enjoy and good night~

“I’m sorry I didn’t come sooner,” Lance said. He took a deep breath and turned around so his father’s memory could look at him. A mouse on his shoulder squeaked as he did so. “I didn’t…want to face you,” he admitted.

When Lance opened his eye, he saw what he knew he would: fear, sadness, and sympathy were evident in his father’s expression. Alfor lifted his ghostly hands and cupped his son’s face, running his thumbs over Lance’s cheek bones. When the tingling sensation of the former king’s thumb brushed over the bandaged eye, Lance looked down.

“I wish you didn’t have to see this,” Lance said softly, reaching up to remove the bandage from his wounded eye.

When he lifted his head again, he had to bite his tongue to fight the desire to look away, to hide, to cover his empty eye socket. But this was his father. Alfor loved him unconditionally. He wasn’t Lakshmi, but he was still Lance’s father and right now that was what Lance needed more than anything.

“What happened, son?” his father asked.

“I…” Lance flinched involuntarily when Alfor reached up to brush holographic fingers over the damage. “I let my guard down,” he said. “I didn’t notice an impostor until it was too late and, um, almost got Allura killed. I almost got her killed.” His breathing began picking up and he shook his head. “If I had been any slower that bomb would have killed her, all because I didn’t notice that- That _thing!”_

“What do you mean?” Alfor asked gently.

“We- Pidge, the green paladin, managed to capture a Galra hoverbot and reprogram it to work for us, er, him.” He shook his head quickly. _“Her,”_ he corrected himself. “Her. She made it work for her, even gave it a name and everything. Calls it Rover,” he added with a chuckle, dropping his gaze to his feet. “It follows her around everywhere.”

His laughter faded away and his gave a shaky sigh. “I saw a hoverbot that was identical to Rover fly into the crystal chamber where Allura and I were,” Lance said slowly. “I should have noticed that Pidge wasn’t with Rover to begin with, but I didn’t. I am _trained_ to notice those things and I _missed_ it when it mattered most. The hoverbot was a decoy with a bomb planted in its system. It blew up the power crystal and…”

“And that’s how this happened?” his father asked gently, pressing his fingers to the corner of the prince’s damaged eye.

Lance shook his head slightly. “No,” he said. “I… The explosion knocked me unconscious and destroyed the power crystal so the Castle lost power to everything, including our defenses and the healing pods.” Lance tilted his head into his father’s tingling touch. “Hunk, the yellow paladin, and Coran went to retrieve a crystal from a Balmera and the others-”

“Others?”

“Shiro the black paladin, Keith the red paladin, and Allura,” Lance clarified. “They went to investigate a possible Galra attack on an Arusian village.”

“What about you and Pidge?” Alfor asked.

“I was unconscious, so they left me and Pidge behind.”

“They left you alone?” Alfor gasped.

“No. Like I said, Pidge stayed. She did leave for a short time,” Lance held up his hand to stop his father from speaking, “but she did the right thing. The attack on the village was a distraction. Sendak, the commander of the Galra battleship that Voltron defeated, took over the Castle while Allura and the others were gone and captured me. Pidge escaped detection and helped everyone get back in, but not before…”

“This,” Alfor said. He sighed and Lance could almost swear he felt his father’s breath on his cheek. “I’m so sorry I couldn’t be there when you needed me.”

“You’re here now,” Lance said.

The former king smiled gently. “Yes,” he said. “I’m here now and I’ll be here for as long as you need me.”

Lance swallowed over the lump in his throat and forced himself to breathe. “Can... um,” he began. “I don’t know what to do," he tried again. "I’m her Sentinel, Father. It’s my job to keep her safe, to watch for danger, to stand in her place. That’s my job so why did she _stop me?”_ he cried, staring directly at his father.

His father’s eyes clouded in confusion. “Stop you?” he asked. “What do you mean she stopped you?”

“Allura ordered Coran to keep me away from her,” Lance shouted. “She performed the energy exchange ritual to heal the Balmera like we promised. But she did more than just heal a small wound from the removal of a single crystal. She healed the entire Balmera.”

The former king gasped, dropping his hand away from his son in shock. “She did what?” he asked. “But that should have-”

“Killed her, yes, I’m aware,” Lance snapped. “My quintessence resonated with hers. I tried to give her my quintessence to bolster hers, but they stopped me.”

“Who stopped you?”

“It doesn’t matter right now,” Lance said. “What matters is that Allura, the Heir, the person I’m sworn to, my _sister,_ stopped me from saving her life. If she’d died, I…” He gasped, wrapping his arms around himself and clutching his arms in a self-comforting gesture. “I don’t want to die alone, Father. I don’t want that. I can take everything else. I survived Sendak, I survived the Great War, I survived being shot out into space-”

“Shot out- Son, what are you talking about?” Alfor demanded.

Lance waved his hand weakly. “It’s nothing,” he said. He took a deep breath to steady himself before continuing. “What I mean is I’ve survived a lot, and I’m ready to keep fighting,” he said fiercely. “But I can’t do that alone. I won’t. I refuse.”

* * *

 

The former king’s shoulders drooped and he bowed his head. It was several minutes of silence before he could finally speak.

“I am so sorry,” he whispered just loud enough for Lance to hear in the illusory twilight of Altea. “I wish I could be there in person and hold you like you deserve. You both deserve so much more than this. I wish…”

He lifted his head and tentatively reached out to press his thumb to his son’s damaged right eye scale. The scale was sliced cleanly in two by what must have been a painful process. It didn’t matter what weapon was used to do this, the fact remained that it had been done and Alfor hadn’t been able to stop it.

When he saved his children, the former king had never wanted them to suffer. He had dreamed of them finding a safe, peaceful time far in the future to live out their lives to the fullest. It seemed that one simple wish was too much to hope for.

“This was never my intention,” Alfor said. “I never imagined the Galra would have survived this long.”

“Well I don’t think anyone could have suspected Zarkon would be immortal,” Lance snarked.

Alfor shook his head. “He isn’t,” he said.

“Well, clearly he is,” Lance countered. “Or he’s constantly cloning himself and replacing his current self with clones.”

Despite himself, Alfor snorted. “I doubt he is immortal,” he said. “But I do not doubt he is playing with something he has no business with. If the Druids are by his side, then it’s not a far stretch to assume he has been experimenting with quintessence.”

Lance’s face flushed and he looked away. One of his hands reached up to press against the lower right side of his neck before he caught himself and snapped his hand away quickly.

“Allura traded for what I think was a cybernetic eye,” Lance said. He huffed a small smile when a mouse on his shoulder chittered nervously. “I bet she thinks she was being sneaky about it too. Don’t tell her I know, Father,” he said. “None of you tell her either," he added to the mice. "She’s probably very proud of herself right now.”

Alfor chuckled. “I’m sure she is,” he agreed.

“There’s more,” the prince said, tightening his grip on his arms. “We fought the Galra today before Allura healed the Balmera. We were going to lose. Allura was in the Castle and its defenses were…” He shrugged. “I gave her my quintessence and she…used the weapon.”

“What weapon?” Alfor asked, momentarily confused. Lance gave him a look and whatever color had been in his holographic face drained. “No. Lance, that-”

“It was either that or she would have died,” Lance said venomously. “I wasn’t about to let that happen.”

Alfor took his son’s face in both of his holographic hands and pleaded, “That weapon should never have been created in the first place.”

“It wasn’t originally supposed to _be_ a weapon,” Lance said. “Besides, I’m pretty sure the Galra have found a way to weaponize quintessence as well. We’ve fought these giant robot monsters Keith calls Robeasts twice now. They’re clearly made by the Druids and they were always good with quintessence.”

“True,” the former king admitted. “But that doesn’t make it right.”

“I know,” Lance said miserably. “Allura feels horrible. She’ll probably have to talk to you about it later on when she can be alone. She never was one for war or killing. She never liked the idea of me being her Sentinel either.”

“No, but it’s not for her to like or dislike,” Alfor said. “It's simply the way things are. Are you attempting to rebuild your network?”

Lance lifted an eyebrow briefly and his right shoulder twitched in a half shrug. “It would certainly prove useful,” he said, easing the tension from his shoulders as they approached a less sensitive topic. One of the mice began grooming itself tickling Lance's chin with its ears. Lance smiled fondly. “I already think I’ve found two potential members, whether they realize it or not.”

Alfor chuckled. “Don’t get carried away,” he chided fondly, running his ghostly fingers through his son’s messy brown hair. “Now, are you ever going to tell me about your mate?” he teased.

The intense blush that flooded Lance’s face was well worth it. Alfor tipped his head back and laughed while his son unleashed a flurry of curses. Honestly, this boy. He could be surprisingly oblivious about some of the simplest things. Lance may have been avoiding his father, but Allura hadn’t. She’d come to Alfor often and confided in him.

The fact Alfor had also gained access to the Castle’s security and periphery systems was something Lance and Allura didn’t need to know.

* * *

 

“So,” Keithek said, sitting on the Red Lion’s paw just close enough to the campfire to feel the warmth, “which of you wants to start?”

He looked between Coran and Allura sitting across from him. Both Alteans looked exhausted, but Allura was visibly struggling to keep her eyes open and focused. Keithek felt a brief prick on his conscience, but dismissed it with ease when he reminded himself that this involved his mate. His mate came first, always.

“I’m not sure where to start, really,” Allura said softly. She took a cup of hot liquid from a Balmeran passing by and cradled it in her hands close to her chest.

“Why not with who Lance went to see in the Castle,” Keithek said, narrowing his yellow and violet eyes suspiciously. “Other than your psychopathic telepath mice,” he ignored the glare the princess shot his way, “there shouldn’t be anyone else on board the Castleship. Unless you’re lying about that.”

“We never lied to you,” Coran spoke up. “There isn’t anyone on the Castle in the way you mean.”

“That doesn’t even make sense,” Pidge said.

“It’s a ghost, isn’t it?” Hunk moaned.

“I’m not sure what a ‘ghost’ is,” Coran said thoughtfully, “but the person left in the Castle is the former king of Altea and Lance and Allura’s father, Alfor.”

“What?” the paladins cried.

“But you said you were the only ones left of your race,” Shiro said studying Allura’s face closely.

Allura pursed her lips. “My father is dead,” she said.

“I knew it. It’s a ghost,” Hunk groaned.

“But his quintessence was preserved in a memory core,” the princess continued over the yellow paladin’s vocal despair.

“A memory core is a device that stores the quintessence of an individual and preserves it for future use,” Coran explained. “The quintessence retains the person’s memories, feelings, and personality. It’s a way to communicate with someone after their physical body has passed on. King Alfor stored his quintessence in a memory core before he died.”

“And that memory core is on the ship right now,” Shiro said.

“Correct.”

“There’s that word again,” Rolo said from his spot close to the fire next to Nyma. “Quintessence. What the quiznak is that?”

The Altean adviser looked genuinely confused by the question. “You don’t know?” he asked, completely befuddled.

“None of us do to be honest,” Hunk said with a shrug. “But I’m guessing it’s something like ectoplasm or whatever soul stuff is left over to make ghosts.”

Keithek rolled his eyes. “I know a little about it,” he admitted. “The Druids work with it regularly as part of their magic.”

“True enough,” Coran said. “Quintessence is the purest and most concentrated form of life. It exists in any and every living thing. It’s also been known to exist in non-organic materials even long after the organic parts were removed. For instance, quintessence exists in planets, which includes the rock, soil, and metal within the planet.”

“But planets aren’t alive,” Pidge argued.

“Perhaps not in the way you perceive life,” Coran countered. “They may not all be sentient, like a Balmera, but they are alive in a sense. The rock moves, bends, and contracts, like muscles in a body. Take the quintessence away from a planet and you’d be left with nothing but barren rock, completely devoid of life, that will crumble into dust.”

“You mean like what almost happened to the Balmera?” Hunk asked.

“Exactly,” Coran said.

“Okay, then what about that weapon you used on the Galra?” Shiro offered, lifting his gaze from the fire to the princess next to him. “That destroyed an entire Galra fleet in one shot.”

“Yeah,” Hunk said. “It was like a nuclear bomb focused in a death ray, like the Death Star's planet-destroying laser from Star Wars.”

“What I don’t understand,” Pidge interjected, “is if you had a weapon like that all along, then why didn’t you use it to win the war a long time ago?”

“Because it never should have been used,” Allura said, bowing her head sadly. “It was wrong of me to use it. Lance may believe otherwise, but I cannot bring myself to agree. All those lives lost.”

“But what is it?” Keithek pressed.

“It’s a form of quintessence,” Allura answered. “A combination of both mine and Lance’s as well as the ship’s quintessence ejected in a highly concentrated beam.”

“But you just said quintessence was this life force thing,” Hunk said in confusion. “How can something that is innately ‘life,’” he held up air quotes as he spoke, “be used to kill?”

“Anything can be used to kill, Hunk,” Shiro said grimly.

“Shiro’s right,” Coran said seriously. “Quintessence may be life, but it’s still energy. The term ‘force’ in the phrase ‘life force’ is actually a misnomer. Quintessence isn’t a force at all, really. It’s an energy that can only be accessed by using specialized equipment and lots of training.”

“So when those glowing streamer things came out of Lance...” Keithek began.

“He was attempting to give his quintessence to Allura so she wouldn’t die from healing the whole Balmera,” Coran said. “As her Sentinel, Lance has the ability to resonate his quintessence to Allura’s and allow her to use it as if it were her own.”

“But if everyone’s quintessence is unique to them, then how can Lance make his match Allura’s?” Pidge asked with interest.

“It’s based on the bond you paladins have with your Lions,” Coran said. “Well, actually the bond between Sentinel and Heir is older than the paladin and Lion relationship. The Lion and paladin bond was modeled after the Sentinel and Heir bond. The Lions are the Heirs to the paladins' Sentinels."

“You see,” the adviser continued, “the Sentinel is the title given to the person whose quintessence is the closest match to the Heir’s just like the paladin's quintessence is the mirror of the Lion's. The Sentinel’s duty is to watch, protect, and stand when the Heir cannot. Should something happen to the Heir during their reign, then the Sentinel, if he or she is still alive, will then take over the throne until the end of their life which usually wouldn't very long.”

“Why not?” Keithek asked, not sure if he wanted to know the answer.

Coran hummed thoughtfully before answering. “Because if the Sentinel senses the potential for injury or death to befall their bonded Heir, then they can synchronize their quintessence so it resonates with the Heir’s and offer it up to replace the quintessence the Heir might have lost. There are limitations, of course, like the Sentinel and Heir must be relatively close for the exchange to take place and it works best when physical touch is involved but…Oh, Shiro? Are you alright?”

“What?” Shiro asked, genuinely confused. His eyes were wide as he tried to wrap his head around what Coran was saying.

“Oh dear,” Coran muttered.

“If I’m dying,” Allura said grimly, “then Lance can give me his life force to keep me alive and heal any injuries I might have.” She narrowed her eyes in frustration. “But it drains him so he can’t do it often or for prolonged periods of time. It will kill him.”

Keithek almost fell off the Red Lion’s paw in shock. “It’ll what?” he cried. “What do you mean it’ll kill him?”

“He’s giving me his quintessence,” Allura snapped. “His life force. That’s a finite source. If he gives it all to me at once without allowing himself time to recover, then there won’t be any left for him.”

“Remember what happens to a planet when all of its quintessence is removed?” Coran asked.

“Dust,” Keithek breathed in horror.

Allura nodded. “That’s why I ordered Coran to keep Lance away from me while I healed the Balmera,” she said.

“You were protecting him,” Shiro said, nodding in understanding.

“Woah,” Pidge murmured.

“That’s dark, man,” Hunk said. Then a thought occurred to him and he sat up. “Hey, wait a sec. Didn't you say your father, King Alfor, was your mother’s Sentinel before he married her?”

Allura nodded. “He was,” she said. “But when I was voted to be the next Heir, my mother transferred the official title to me. My father was going to hand his title to my Sentinel, but my family was murdered before he got the chance.”

Shiro leaned back against one of the Balmera’s crystals, pulling one leg up and propping his mechanical prosthetic on his knee. “But Lance is your Sentinel,” he said. “Doesn’t that mean your father passed his title to him?”

The princess nodded but it was Coran who spoke. “He did, yes,” the advisor said. “But Lance wasn’t the first choice.”

“It was Lauma,” Allura said. “My older sister. She was supposed to be my Sentinel. But she died with the rest of my siblings that night before Father could officially pass his title to her. Lance was the next closest match to my quintessence so Father passed him the title.”

Coran turned his gaze to the fire, a move Shiro didn’t miss. But before he could press the issue, Pidge asked a question.

“If you don’t mind me asking,” Pidge said hesitantly, "what kind of poison was it?"

“Pidge...” Shiro warned.

Allura shook her head. “It’s fine. It wasn't actually poison in the most traditional sense of the word," she said, considering her words carefully. "I was actually an acid. It was mixed into our drinks without us knowing."

"An acid?" Pidge gasped. Shiro’s eyebrows flew to his hairline and now even he was interested in a sick, twisted way.

"Yes,” Allura said slowly. “I don't know what you call it or if you have it on your world, but we call it 'muriatic acid.’”

Hunk sat ramrod straight. "Oh Pele. No way."

"That sounds vaguely familiar," Shiro said, wracking his brain for where he’d heard that word before.

"We have it,” Hunk said seriously. “We don't call it muriatic acid much anymore, but yeah, we have it. It's more commonly called by its chemical name: hydrochloric acid."

Both Pidge and Shiro's faces turned white as a sheet. "Oh my god," Shiro murmured in horror.


	29. The Tears Not Shed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Hunk shares a special moment under the dancing lights with Shay while Shiro and Coran have a deep and informative talk in private.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **A/N:** Ok, fair warning. This is kind of dialogue heavy. But there's a lot of background given regarding the Altean culture and our favorite royal siblings. Also, Shiro and Coran may have a bonding moment.
> 
> Also, there may only be one or two more chapters left of this story before he preview to the third installment and the simultaneous post of the third fic's first chapter. That's 2-3 days till book 3. Yay!

Hunk sat on one of the spikes curving out of the Balmera. It reminded him of that spiral hill which Jack Skellington walked on in that scary _Nightmare Before Christmas_  movie. But since he was enjoying the starlight and the soft glow of the Balmera’s freshly grown crystals, he was fine with this setup. The wind swirled around him and tugged at his hair, like a sibling demanding attention.

He needed to be alone to think right now. What Allura and Coran had told him and his friends… it was a lot to take in. There was still much they needed to discuss, but they had all silently agreed to wait. Lance was still wherever he’d holed himself up in the Castle, Allura had clammed up after explaining the circumstances of her family’s death, and Coran had taken the princess to her room. Pidge and Keith had offered to stay in the Castle as guards, while Hunk stayed outside with the Balmerans.

Apparently, none of the Balmerans in this generation had ever set foot on the Balmera’s surface before. They always had been confined to the tunnels below the ground for centuries, if not longer. It broke Hunk’s heart; these people were so kind and gentle. He couldn’t imagine being locked underground for all his life, never allowed to see the sun or the sky except for the few glimpses from the bottom of deep mining shafts.

He looked down and saw a multitude of Balmerans gathered together near the Castle of Lions and the crystallized Robeast. The sight of the defeated monster still brought a smile to his face. He leaned back, propping himself up by bracing his hands behind him, petted the Balmera under his hands as he did so just because.

“Hunk!”

The yellow paladin looked over his shoulder and smiled at his new guest. “Shay,” he said happily. “You came to join me?”

“If it is acceptable, yes,” the Balmeran said, smiling shyly.

“Of course it’s acceptable,” Hunk said laughing gaily. “This is your home world, after all. I’m just a visitor here. Besides, you and your people are free now. Do whatever you want.”

Shay’s smile grew broad and she finished the climb up the curved rock the sit next to Hunk with her feet dangling over the ledge. Hunk marveled at her bravery. He valued his life too much to let his feet dangle off a ledge so freaking high off the ground. How high up were they anyway? Fifteen yards? Twenty? Higher? He swallowed back a gulp of bile and focused on not thinking about how high they were. Maybe sitting up here wasn’t such a good idea.

“It’s so beautiful,” Shay said, moving her wide yellow eyes over the Balmeran landscape in awe. “These ones have never seen such beauty before,” she said referring to her people.

Hunk’s smile softened. “Well, now you can,” he said. “You can for as long and as often as you want.”

“Because we are free,” Shay said. “That is thanks to you.”

“Well,” Hunk said, lifting his shoulders and bowing his head to hide his blush, “not just me. I wouldn’t have been able to do anything without my friends’ help.”

“Yes. Your princess healed our world.” Shay’s voice fell to a whisper. “My people are in debt to that one. Should she ever ask us for aid, we would be honor bound to aid her.”

“She would probably only ask you to enjoy your time as a free people,” Hunk said. “Use this opportunity to establish yourselves and find your way.”

“That does sound nice,” Shay murmured.

They sat together in comfortable silence, watching the far horizon begin to lighten as an eerie green. Hunk sat up and studied the glow in cautious interest. The lights moved in slow sweeps across the sky, sometimes with hints of red near the top of the atmosphere.

“What is that?” Shay asked, gazing at the dancing lights in fearful awe.

But Hunk wasn’t afraid. He was thrilled. He’d never seen these lights in anything but photographs and videos on YouTube. “Aurora borealis,” he said. “They’re aurora borealis.”

“Aurora what?” Shay asked. 

“Aurora borealis,” Hunk repeated. “It’s a fancy way of saying the northern lights. They’re caused by electrons hitting the atmosphere.” He noticed the odd look Shay gave him from the corner of his eye and offered her a timid smile. “Sorry,” he said. “I get a little excited about science sometimes.”

Shay grinned merrily. “Never apologize for something that brings you joy. Joy is something you should be proud to experience.”

Hunk chuckled. "You’re right.”

“The dancing lights…” Shay’s voice trailed away. “They are the same color as your shortest companion.”

“Hm? Oh, you mean Pidge,” Hunk said. “You’ve never seen that color before?” Shay shook her head and Hunk hummed in thought. “Well, it’s called ‘green.’ The planet I’m from has a lot of green. Lots of shades of it too. Those lights,” he said, nodding to the aurora borealis, “are really rare on Earth. Relatively speaking anyway,” he corrected.

“They’re not really rare close to the north pole,” he continued, “but they’re super rare where I live. I live on an island in the Pacific. The aurora borealis doesn’t come that far south. Or if it has, it was before I was born.”

“Are they dangerous?” Shay asked hesitantly.

“Oh no,” Hunk said. “Not at all. Not for us anyway. Maybe if you were flying through them, but considering that’s incredibly difficult, it’s not really a problem.”

Shay fell silent again and gazed at the rippling green lights. “They give me hope,” she murmured after several minutes. “Just like you did.”

This time, Hunk did not duck to hide his blush and wide smile.

* * *

 

Shiro leaned against the hallway wall outside Princess Allura's bedroom and waited until Coran came out before speaking. “Is she asleep?” he asked when the Altean advisor let the princess’s door slide closed and lock.

Coran jumped a bit, surprised by the black paladin’s presence, but otherwise said nothing. He simply nodded and glanced back at the closed door in worry.

“You’re hiding something,” Shiro said, deciding to cut to the chase. “When Allura said Lance was the closest match to her quintessence, you looked away.”

“That’s a lot to assume from one look,” Coran said, lifting an eyebrow curiously. He didn’t act offended or suspicious, merely intrigued. When Shiro said nothing, the advisor shrugged. “You’re right, I suppose,” he admitted. “I am hiding something. But perhaps not for the reasons you think.”

“What are my reasons?” Shiro challenged.

Coran tilted his head to the side, glancing down the hallway to be sure they were alone. Then he turned on his heel and waved for Shiro to follow. “I need to work on a few things in the crystal chamber,” he said. “Come and help me and I’ll try to explain what I can.”

Pushing away from the wall, Shiro followed quietly. When they entered the crystal chamber, the black paladin couldn’t help but look at the floor where he’d found Allura and Lance unconscious after the explosion that threw everything to chaos. Swallowing thickly, he forced himself to look away and noticed Coran was busying himself with a few of the control panels along the walls.

A holographic interface appeared over the control panel and Coran quickly typed in what appeared to be a command code. A tablet that had been lying dark to the side of the panel lit up and Coran placed his hand on the device, selecting an option on the screen. A moment later, a hiss and burst of steam startled Shiro. He spun around to what he’d thought were just support columns and was surprised to see a large slide filled with several colorful crystals eject from the column. He hadn’t even noticed there was a slot there in the first place.

Coran strolled over to the metal slide and pulled it the rest of the way out. He held it up so it caught the light and examined the crystals closely, his forehead creasing in concentration. He hummed and walked over to the central platform, plopping down on the step and gesturing for Shiro to join him.

“Bring the tablet I left on the panel over there with you,” he said.

After a moment’s hesitation, Shiro stepped forward and picked up the tablet before sitting next to the adviser on the platform. Although Shiro was eager for answers, he knew better than to press Coran for what was probably sensitive or possibly personal information. His patience paid off.

“Allura told you Lance was the next closest match to her quintessence,” Coran began, waiting for Shiro to nod in affirmation. “She was wrong. She didn’t lie,” he said quickly. “She was just wrong. Lance was not the second closest match, he was and still is _the_ closest match. Hold the tablet up so I can see it, please.”

Shiro lifted the tablet so it sat propped on his thigh facing Coran. The advisor studied the readouts in Altean script on the tablet, shifting so he could rest the metal slide on his own lap. Steadying the slide with one hand, Coran reached into one of his pockets, pulled out a thin stylus, and began tapping gently at one of the crystals. After each tap, he studied the readouts on the tablet.

“Tilt it up a bit, please,” he said. He waited for Shiro to comply before speaking once more. “Alteans have always been particularly sensitive to quintessence,” he said. “I’m not exactly sure why. It’s become such an important part of Alteans as a people but it’s nigh on impossible to track back to when we first discovered it. It was so long ago even our records debated it. It’s almost as old as our relationship to the juniberry plant.”

“Juniberry plant?” Shiro asked.

Coran nodded, humming affirmatively. “It’s a plant that is native to Altea. It only grew where Alteans lived. The more Alteans were in the area, the more juniberry flowers bloomed. But that’s not important right now,” he said, waving away that subject.

“It was very common for Alteans to sense quintessence,” Coran explained, moving his stylus to another crystal in the slide. “Some more than others, granted, but sensing quintessence was normal. It was slightly less common for someone to have the ability to directly interact with quintessence. Depending on their skill, those who could interact with quintessence were sent to study under the Druids.”

“Druids?” Shiro gasped, his whole body stiffening in shock. He had to scramble for the tablet when it almost slipped from his grasp.

“Yes,” Coran said, waiting patiently for the black paladin to relax before continuing. “The Druids were not always evil. Before the Great War, the Druids were a knowledgeable and highly respected sect of scholars skilled in the art of quintessence manipulation.” Coran tapped the tablet in Shiro hands, swiping across the screen so another display appeared. “They had different categories I suppose you could call them. Anything from Healing to Warcraft. Although we are a peaceful people who loath war, we revere death. We believe that when we die, our quintessence joins that Eternal River where our ancestors and everything that had lived, was currently living, and would live dwelled. It was something to accept, not fear.”

“Nevertheless,” Coran said gravely, meeting Shiro’s eyes, “death by natural causes and murder are two very different things. Murder was a capital offense. It interfered with the natural flow of things. War was viewed as the epitome of mass murder. We would fight if threatened, but killing others merely for the sake of killing was and still is deplorable. We could and would defend ourselves, but we preferred diplomacy over weaponry.”

“You mentioned Allura was a diplomat,” Shiro said.

Coran nodded. “Yes, yes, she was. Very good one too.” Coran chuckled, his gaze distant and his smile fond. “Ah, she was a shrewd woman even when she was a child. She often accompanied her father, King Alfor, on his diplomatic missions.”

“King Alfor was a diplomat too?”

“Oh yes,” Coran said. “That was his job before he was chosen as Queen Lakshmi’s Sentinel. Even after that, when a delicate hand was needed for a particularly tense diplomatic mission, Alfor would go.”

“You see,” Coran said, waving the hand holding his stylus, “we Alteans were considered the diplomats of the universe at the time. If there was ever a dispute or treaty or something that required an objective party to be present, we were there. That was our job. We never took sides in a war or dispute that did not involve us, but we would send aid to anyone who needed it, no matter who they were. We were also explorers who loved learning and all things new and interesting.”

Coran flushed and scratched his red hair awkwardly. “And there I go being distracted again,” he said bashfully.

“It’s alright,” Shiro said. “It’s interesting.”

“Don’t be polite, young man,” Coran said, patting the black paladin’s back. “I know I ramble.”

Shiro smiled. “It’s okay,” he said. “I mean it. It really is okay. That _is_ interesting. If you ever want to ramble, you can talk to me. I...” He blushed and looked away nervously. “I may need someone to talk to sometimes too.”

Coran’s old eyes softened. “Of course, son,” he said. “Whenever you need to, I’ll be here.”

Shiro smiled up at the advisor, truly grateful for the offer.

“Now about Lance,” Coran said, returning to the original subject. “Our young prince was adept at directly accessing quintessence and old enough to apprentice under the Druids. So was Allura, but she preferred diplomacy to becoming a Druid.”

Shiro frowned. “Lance was going to become a Druid?” he asked.

“Yes,” Coran said. “Remember, the Druids weren’t always allied with Zarkon. Lance wanted to fly. His best chance to do that was to apprentice under the Druids. He would have graduated the Druid Collegium as a Master Pilot if the royal family hadn’t been murdered.”

Shiro winced and looked away. “I’m sorry,” he murmured.

The Altean shook his head. “Thank you,” he said softly. Tears sparkled in his eyes, spilling over to his cheeks and pooling in his mustache. “Truly, that means a lot.”

Neither spoke until Coran shook himself, collecting himself. “Anyway, Lance wanted to fly, but the Druids wanted him to study Ascension. Ascension is the art of allowing one’s quintessence to resonate with the world around them. A Master Ascender could actually touch the Eternal River with their quintessence. There were stories of ancient times when Master Ascenders succeeded in merging their quintessence with the Eternal River entirely, leaving their physical bodies behind to exist as quintessence alone. It’s from this idea that we developed the memory core.”

The black paladin nodded, wide eyed. “I’ve seen a memory core before,” he said. “A Druid was using it. I didn’t know that it was Altean technology.”

“Oh, indeed,” Coran said proudly.

“But Lance turned down the Master Ascender thing?” Shiro nudged gently.

Coran nodded. “That he did. He wanted nothing else than to be a Master Pilot.” He smiled fondly. “It was a source of tension between him and Allura. Allura wanted Lance to embrace all that he was, but Lance would not be swayed.”

Coran turned back to the colorful crystals in the metal slide on his lap and began tapping them again. “When Allura was voted the next Heir,” he continued, “it was assumed Lauma would be her Sentinel. But that was never the case. Ever since Lance’s proficiency at Ascension became apparent, King Alfor had been training Lance to be the next Sentinel.”

“Was Lance aware of this?” Shiro asked.

“He was,” Coran said, moving to the next crystal in the slide, this one glowing green. “You must understand: to Alteans, the Sentinel and Heir are sacred positions. To be chosen as one or the other was a blessing.”

“But the Heir is a voted office, right?”

The Altean nodded. “It is, yes. But it was more than that. It would take a good long while to explain the complexities of the process. It’s so steeped in tradition that to explain one thing, I would have to explain many others.”

“I wouldn't mind listening,” Shiro said with a smile.

Coran chuckled. “You say that now. Just wait until I’m three hours in. You won’t be so eager then.”

Shiro shrugged carelessly. “I graduated from college. I think I can manage to listen to something interesting for a few hours.”

The Altean laughed cheerfully. “I’ll hold you to that, my boy. But for now, I’ll just answer your original question. If I don’t get side-tracked again, that is.” He grinned and the black paladin smiled back.

“When the Druids began assessing possible candidates for Allura’s Sentinel, there was pressure from within and without to choose Lauma,” the advisor said. “Her quintessence was a close match to Allura’s and could be used to fulfill the Sentinel’s duties.”

“But not as well as Lance’s,” Shiro said.

“But not as well as Lance’s. Correct,” Coran said, nodding. “Alfor refused to give his title to Lauma because he knew her quintessence wasn’t right for the position. However, word spread that Lauma was the candidate for Sentinel anyway and Allura heard the news. Then before everything could be cleared up, the royal family was poisoned and…” He shrugged and fell silent.

Shiro considered Coran’s words quietly before asking, “Why did the Druids want Lauma to be the Sentinel and not Lance?”

“Because they wanted Lance to be a Master Ascender,” Coran answered simply. “He has a great gift. They were afraid of losing such an untapped gift. They had already lost Allura and her ability to find that which is lost. Losing another prodigy would have been a shame.”

“Prodigy?” Shiro repeated. “What do you mean by finding ‘that which is lost’? You mean like tracking?”

“Sort of,” Coran said, tapping the stylus on his chin. “Allura has the ability to become a Master Finder. Finders can, well, find things that are lost. Specifically, they can track the quintessence of someone or something even over vast distances.”

“That’s how she found the Lions,” Shiro murmured.

“That and she’s the Heir,” Coran said. “When the Great War began, King Alfor tied the Lions’ quintessence to the Heir’s, who happened to be his daughter at the time. The Heir can always track the Lions with or without the aid of the Castle of Lions. However, the Castle acts as an amplifier. By focusing her quintessence through the Balmera’s crystal, Allura’s quintessence is magnified by many times. This allows her to accurately pinpoint the Lions’ locations even if they’re on the opposite side of the universe.”

Shiro frowned. “But if that’s true, then why couldn’t she find the Red Lion in the beginning?”

Coran sighed. “I had thought about that,” he admitted. “My only guess is that the Galra have come up with some sort of shield that can block Allura’s Finding ability. I do believe Allura would have been able to find the Red Lion if she’d had more time to concentrate, but sometimes time is of the essence.”

Shiro nodded. “So Lance was originally supposed to be the next Sentinel.”

“Lauma was the closest natural match for Allura’s quintessence,” Coran said, nodding. “But Lance was the better choice. One of the reasons he could easily have become a Master Ascender is because he can make his quintessence resonate with just about anything by sheer force of will. Lauma would have only been able to resonate with Allura.”

“But isn’t that the point?” Shiro asked.

Coran tilted his head in a half nod. “Yes,” he said slowly. “But it would have made it difficult for Lauma to use the Castle of Lions.”

Shiro frowned in confusion. Then his face stilled in understanding. “That weapon.”

Coran nodded. “It wasn’t originally a weapon,” he said. “Actually, it isn’t a weapon at all, even though it can be used as a such. It’s a focused beam of quintessence magnified by the Balmera’s crystal and fired from the Castle. It’s main purpose was to rejuvenate planets whose quintessence had dwindled.”

“Like what Allura did to heal the Balmera.”

“Yes, exactly like that Shiro,” the Altean said. “Except, the Castle wasn't designed to heal an entire planet from the brink of death. It was only meant to bolster the quintessence that was already there just diminished, like after a natural disaster.”

The black paladin considered Coran’s words carefully. “And Lauma wouldn’t have been able to do that?”

“She could in theory,” Coran said. “But I doubt she could do it in practice. With Lance’s ability to will his quintessence to resonate, he can mimic Allura’s quintessence almost perfectly tricking the Castle into viewing his quintessence as hers. When both his and Allura’s quintessence merged and was magnified by the Castle, it had the potential to destroy or heal. It’s all a matter of how it’s used.”

“And Lauma couldn’t do that?” Shiro pressed.

Coran sighed, stopping his tapping and sat back. “I honestly don’t know for sure,” he said. “It’s possible she could have. But I suppose we’ll never know. If she’d been chosen as the Sentinel, she wouldn’t have been at that final festival and died with the rest. But because Lauma wasn’t chosen, she went. Allura, as the Heir, wasn’t permitted to join the beginning of the festival because of the traditional cleansing. At the festival’s peak, the former Heir, Queen Lakshmi and the former Sentinel, King Alfor, would have presented Allura and Lance respectively to the people of Altea.”

“But that didn’t happen,” Shiro said.

“No,” the adviser said sadly. “No it did not.” He shrugged. “Just goes to show that some things, no matter how well-intentioned, have unexpected consequences.”

“If I may ask,” Shiro said slowly, “was it Zarkon who poisoned the royal family?”

“Hm? I don’t know,” Coran said. “I suspect it was, considering the circumstances. He certainly took credit for it. But did he do it with his own hand?” He shook his head. “I don’t know. I don’t think we’ll ever know.”

“I guess it doesn’t matter much now,” Shiro said, bowing his head with a heavy sigh.

Neither spoke of much the rest of the night. Instead, Shiro helped Coran finish testing the crystals in the metal slide, as well as several other near-identical slides, before both retreated to their respective rooms to sleep.


	30. Body Heat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Keithek's name is not Fido, Lance challenges his mate, and sometimes the ending isn't what you'd expect.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **A/N:** This is the longest chapter in this fic yet, but I doubt y'all will be disappointed when you read it. Just fair warning, this chapter has made me up the rating for this fic from Mature to Explicit if that's a subtle enough hint. I gave this a quick once over but seeing as it's 1:30am my time and I have work at 9am tomorrow, I'm going to bed now. I'll edit this more thoroughly tomorrow. Goodnight and enjoy~

Keithek stepped out of the training arena slightly sweaty, but feeling much better. His thoughts were still a mess of disjointed emotions and mismatched nonsense, however. He’d learned a lot from Allura and Coran, but it wasn’t enough. He felt like there was so much he didn’t know about anyone really. He doubted some of it was deliberate. But the fact remained that he knew very little about his team. He knew even less about his own mate.

Until a couple turns ago, Keithek had accepted several things as indisputable facts. Emperor Zarkon was the supreme leader of the Galra Empire. Prince Lotor was a dick of the highest order. Sendak was a pile of refuse. Keithek himself was a halfbreed alpha. He would never have a mate. His father loved him. Alteans were an extinct species. Voltron was a legend. Nothing could defeat the Galra Empire.

Now he was forced to reevaluate his life and everything he believed. It was stressing him out. It turned out the Alteans did still exist, even if they were critically endangered. They were debatably even extinct in the wild, per se. Not only that, but one of those endangered Alteans was Keithek’s mate.

His mate. Keithek had a mate. Granted, they hadn’t been mated in the best of circumstances, but Keithek couldn’t find it within him to regret it. He’d even taken Coran’s advice to heart and had begun courting Lance. If the kiss they’d shared after rescuing Allura and Shiro from Rolo and Nyma was anything to go by, this whole courting thing was definitely worth it. Hopefully, they could progress further soon.

Also, Voltron was not only real, Keithek was a paladin, and the Red Lion was now a huge part of him. As if on cue, a low rumbling purr filled his mind bringing a smile to Keithek’s lips. The Red Lion had made a habit of vocalizing when she sensed her paladin was in distress. With her purr came a pulse of warmth that enveloped him like a soft, well-worn blanket. It wasn’t as intense or as immediate as when they were united as Voltron, but it was still a flame he welcomed, like the rare hugs he got from his father before they went their separate ways.

It was a lot to take in at once.

He walked passed one of the spare bedrooms glancing at the closed and locked door as did so. Rolo and Nyma were in there right now. Keithek still wasn’t sure how he felt about them. He could understand how they became who and what they were, but that didn’t mean they'd been in the right.

The moment they kidnapped Shiro and Allura, Keithek had begun viewing them as threats. Shiro had become a sort of big brother figure to Keithek, despite the amusement Keithek derived from calling Shiro Space Dad. He didn’t bother to smother the chuckle that bubbled up from his chest when he thought of that nickname.

He stepped into the lift intending to ride up to the deck of the Castle where the paladins' bedrooms were located. However, when the lift doors opened he was surprised to see Pidge standing there in her casual clothes.

“Hey,” she said, sounding tired. “Going up?”

Keithek nodded and stepped in the lift next to the green paladin. “I need a shower,” he muttered.

Pidge’s nose scrunched and she waved a hand in front of her face as if to keep away a bad smell. “Yeah, I was going to talk to you about that,” she said.

Keithek rolled his eyes. “Whatever.”

“I’m just kidding,” she teased. “Well, you do smell, but not that bad.”

He huffed and leaned back against the back of lift, crossing his arms in tired amusement.

“You know,” Pidge said, “I was up on the bridge earlier.”

Keithek hummed.

“You know, looking through the systems ‘cause I was bored.”

Keithek hummed.

“And I happened to notice that Lance was on the holodeck. Alone.”

“Really?” he asked.

Pidge nodded. “Yeah. ‘Course,” she added, “you didn’t hear that from me.”

The lift doors slid open on the level where the paladin’s bedrooms were located and stepped out. “Go get ‘em, Fido,” she tossed over her shoulder just as she pushed in the command to send the lift to the holodeck.

Keithek stared at Pidge’s smug face even after the lift doors closed and the lift began moving again. What was that? Pidge knew his name wasn’t ‘Fido.’ What kind of name was that anyway? He shook his head. Humans had the oddest sense of humor.

Although, he thought when the lift doors slid open again, this time on the floor with the holodeck, this could be his chance to talk to Lance alone. He strolled down the hall to the holodeck and waved his hand over the access panel. When the single door slid open, he moved to step inside but froze when he looked up and actually took in the scene in front of him.

The landscape spread out before him was alien and nothing like he had ever seen before. It was similar to Arus, but so vastly different as have no comparison. He took one hesitant step out into a field of grass speckled by flowers with bright red petals and distinctive yellow stamens. The field was on a ridge line that had a steep slope downward to the right and steep climb to what looked like a stone city on the left.

He was surrounded by tall, craggy mountains in all directions. Some were capped with snow, others not. Clouds flowed over ridge lines into the valleys far, far below. The sky above was caught in a breathtaking sunset. Stars sparkling in the darker part of the sky amidst the two, stark white rings that Keithek doubted were natural. Overall, it was an almost fantastical place.

Altea. The realization hit him like a punch to the gut. This was Altea.

“Keith?”

Lance’s voice startled him out of his thoughts. Keithek slammed his open mouth shut and blushed a deep burgundy, which he hoped wasn’t visible to Lance’s Altean eyes in the dim light. He felt like an intruder on a very private moment and felt the urge to run. That feeling only solidified into something more immediate when a spectral image of a tall man in white armor flickered into existence behind Lance.

The spectre had white hair that was longer in the back than in the front similar to Keithek’s personal style. A neatly trimmed beard and mustache of thick white hair framed the man’s mouth. The white made the man glow iridescently in the darkness of the holodeck scenery. The man’s skin was the dark like Lance’s, contrasting starkly against the white hair and armor. The man carried himself with a regal grace that reminded Keithek of Allura.

“I…I’m sorry,” Keithek said, his gold and violet eyes flickering between Lance and the spectral man hesitantly. “I thought you were alone.”

Lance’s entire demeanor drooped and Keithek immediately regretted his words. He opened his mouth to speak once more when the spectre beat him to it.

“Ah, you must be Keith,” the man said, stepping forward so he stood shoulder to shoulder with Lance. “I am Alfor, Lance’s father. I’ve heard much about you from my children but it is a pleasure to finally meet you in person.”

The longer the man spoke, the paler Keithek’s face got. Alfor. _King_ Alfor. Well frell.

“It, uh, I’m sorry,” Keithek said, stumbling backwards. “I didn’t realize you two were… I’ll leave.”

He turned to leave when a call of “Wait!” stopped him in his tracks. He looked cautiously over his shoulder just in time to see Lance place a hand on his shoulder.

“Don’t leave,” Lance said. “It’s alright.”

Keithek studied his mate’s face and noticed something unusual. The bandage that he had grown accustomed to seeing on Lance’s face was gone leaving the full extent of the damage Sendak had inflicted on his mate open for all to see. He must have made some expression of horror because Lance’s lone eye widened and he quickly covered his wounded eye with his hands. That was unacceptable.

Keithek grabbed Lance’s hand with one of his and pulled it gently but insistently away from the wound. It may have been dark, but Keithek was half Galra and was grateful for his night vision during times like these. He saw the deep flush in Lance’s cheeks, the pale scar slicing clean through the blue eye scale at the corner of the empty socket, and the limp eyelid. He wasn’t disgusted by it. It horrified him but only because it symbolized his failure to protect his mate.

He carefully leaned forward and placed a feather light kiss on his mate’s damaged eye scale. He felt the subtle movement Lance made away from him, the sudden shaky hiss of a sigh, and the twitch of muscles in the wrist he still held in his grip.

“It doesn’t deter me,” he murmured, his lips brushing Lance’s skin. “It never will.”

“It feels strange,” Lance whispered back, reaching up to clutch Keithek’s arm with his free hand.

“Bad?” Keithek ventured.

Lance’s face twitched negatively. “No,” he said aloud. “Just…strange.”

“You have felt nothing but pain since I’ve known you,” Keithek said, his breath ghosting over his mate’s skin. “If you would allow me, I could show you pleasure.”

Lance was silent for a tick too long and Keithek began to question whether he’d moved too quickly when an unexpected voice spoke, abruptly reminding him that they were not alone.

“Go, Lance,” King Alfor said.

Lance stepped back from Keithek’s almost embrace and cast his gaze to his father. Alfor stood where Lance had left him, a lone spirit floating in the twilight of a lost world.

“I’ll be here when you return,” Alfor said, smiling fondly at his son.

Lance hesitated for a tick before nodding. “I’ll be back soon,” he said. “Father,” he called when Alfor began to fade away, “thank you.”

The hologram of Lance’s Father smiled and faded, leaving both paladins alone on a memory of a hillside long lost to dreams.

* * *

 

The walk back to his room was quiet, but not in an uncomfortable way. When they stepped out of the lift and into the hallway their bedrooms were on, Keithek tightened his grip on Lance’s wrist. He hadn’t let it go since he’d grabbed it in the holodeck and he didn’t want to release it now. Instead, he guided the prince to his room.

When they stood in front of Lance’s room, Keithek waited for his mate to unlock the door and step inside before following. The lights came on briefly before Lance turned them off using a panel on the wall. The prince’s chambers were larger than the paladins’ but the main difference was the bed. Where the paladins had bunks set into the walls surrounded by storage units, the prince’s bed was large and spacious and bordered at the head by a view screen that showed the Balmeran night sky.

Lance didn’t pause to appreciate the view. He simply freed his wrist from Keithek's grasp and began removing his outer jacket and unbuttoning his shirt. Keithek never looked away and Lance never asked him to. Lance was Keithek’s mate. Nothing Lance could do would change that.

When the deep blue jacket hung loosely from Lance’s shoulders and the buttons of his white undershirt were undone, he turned to Keithek. The swirling green of the aurora borealis against the blue-black of the night sky in the view screen formed a halo around the prince’s body.

“You said you would show me pleasure,” he said, his lone blue eye glowing with an almost holy light.

Keithek nodded. “If you allow me,” he said, unable to look away from the Altean.

Lance faced Keithek fully and it became incredibly difficult for the halfbreed to tear his eyes away from the dark expanse of his mate’s bare chest.

“I can’t give you much, I’m afraid,” Lance said softly. “There’s a reason why my people ate juniberries so often, after all.” He huffed a laugh that never fully reached his eye. “But I’m willing to try, if you can show me, that is.”

“Is that a challenge?” Keithek asked, watching his mate approach slowly until they were close enough to breathe the same air.

“I don’t know,” Lance said, his gaze flicking briefly to Keithek’s lips before returning to the halfbreed’s eyes. “Is it?”

Keithek smiled and reached up to cup his mate’s cheek, weaving his fingers through Lance’s dark brown hair. He found he loved the way Lance closed his eye and tilted his head into the touch, nuzzling Keithek’s palm. Lance’s skin was chill to the touch, something Keithek was still getting used to.

“I’ll take that as a ‘yes,’” Keithek whispered, resting his other hand on Lance’s neck just over his Mark.

He leaned forward and brushed his lips over the scar leading to Lance’s empty eye socket. His ears twitched, catching the flutter in his mate’s breathing. He kissed up the pale scar until he reached the eye scale. He still wasn’t sure what purpose the scales served, but when he caressed it lightly with his tongue he decided he loved them.

The instant Keithek’s tongue touched the damaged scale, Lance gasped and grabbed Keithek’s shirt with his fists. His body twitched back but then leaned forward. His breathing became unsteady puffs that tickled Keithek’s ears.

“Does it hurt?” Keithek asked against his mate’s skin.

“N-no,” Lance breathed. “Just…strange.”

“Do you want me to stop?”

“No.” Lance tightened his grip on Keithek’s shirt. “Don’t stop.”

Keithek smiled, pressing a kiss against the scale before dragging his tongue over the smooth surface once more. His ears twitched as he listened to his mate’s breathing, taking note of what movement caused what reaction. However, the whimper Lance let out when Keithek suckled the scale was his favorite.

He slowly moved his lips away from the scale, along the scar, to Lance’s hairline, then up to the dark, pointed ear. He nipped the lobe but didn’t linger. There was somewhere else that needed his attention more, even if Lance didn’t think so. He chuckled at his mate’s whine but continued kissing along Lance’s jawline and down the side of his neck. The hand still tangled in Lance’s hair gently tugged the prince’s head back so Keithek could have easier access to the delicious skin. Lance sighed when Keithek pushed his undershirt and jacket off his shoulder so he could kiss his Mark.

“Let me make love to you,” Keithek whispered against the Mark. “Let me give you pleasure. Let me fill you until you can’t take anymore. Let me make you mine. Let me claim you.”

Keithek could see the artery in his mate’s neck pulse with every heartbeat. He could hear every stuttering breath, feel his clothes twist in Lance’s grip, and smell the musk, sweat, and the faint scent of smoke from his mate. He wanted to devour Lance whole until the prince screamed and could think of nothing as he drowned in hedonism. But there would be time for that later though. For now, Keithek wanted to take his time, tasting and touching everywhere until Lance forgot his own name.

He felt wetness on his hand holding Lance’s cheek and almost pulled away to ask what was wrong. But when soft lips touched his thumb, he stayed still.

“I’m yours,” Lance whispered.

_Mine._

The desire to claim, to own, took over. He would make Lance his and only his. He would ruin Lance for anyone else.

Lance was the first to step back, guiding Keithek to his bed. Keithek pushed the jacket and undershirt off of Lance’s shoulders and suckled the Mark, leaning on his mate until the prince overbalanced backwards, falling onto the soft mattress. He let go of the prince’s skin just long enough to allow them both to scoot up so their whole bodies lay fully on the mattress before leaning down and capturing Lance in a kiss.

It started chaste, but didn’t stay that way for long. Surprisingly, it was Lance who made the first move, thrusting his tongue into Keithek’s mouth. Keithek smirked and nipped the tongue eliciting an offended squeak. Lance glared up at him but closed his eye and sighed when Keithek tilted his head to deepen the kiss.

* * *

 

Lance tried to move his arms but found them pinned by the clothes he still wore. When Keith pushed his shirt and jacket off of his shoulders, the fabric had fallen down his arms to pool at his elbows. When Lance landed on the bed, his back pinned his clothes to the mattress underneath him restricting his arms’ movement. He tried to wriggle free of the makeshift bindings and made a frustrated sound when it didn’t work.

“I can’t move,” he said, breaking the kiss and trying to move his body so his arms could get free of the sleeves.

“I know,” Keith said, swallowing Lance’s grunt of surprised indignation.

“What… You planned this?” Lance demanded in a whisper, still struggling to free his arms.

“I saw an opportunity and took it,” Keith said with a smirk. “You challenged me,” he growled, leaned down so he was very much in his mate’s personal space. “I can’t have you distracting me from claiming you.”

Lance flushed a deep red but found his sharp comeback catch in his throat when Keith’s hot mouth found his clavicle. He relaxed into the mattress and let his eye fall shut as he focused on the damp warmth on his chest. He shuddered when sharp teeth teased his skin. This was new and frightening but overwhelmingly addictive. The more he felt, the more he wanted.

He hadn’t originally wanted more than for Keith to tease him with his mouth and hands. But now he wanted everything. He wanted everything Keith would give him. So when lips closed around his nipple, his breath caught and he moaned. Teeth grazed the skin, then bit the small buds hard enough to sting followed by intense suckling that wasn't at all gentle.

Strangely enough, this pain wasn’t frightening or unwelcome. It added something to the experience that Lance hadn't expected. Without intending to, his hips bucked into Keith’s stomach craving the same attention Keith was devoting to Lance’s nipples.

Keith chuckled, and it was both infuriating and gratifying. However, instead of doing what Lance wanted him to do, Keith released the nipple he’d been abusing and licked a long, slow line down to the Altean’s belly. There, he nuzzled the soft, vulnerable skin pressing a kiss to Lance’s belly button, drawing a whimper from the prince.

Keith took his time with Lance, running his hands up and down the prince’s legs, feeling each muscle as he went. As Keith moved further down to Lance’s crotch, the prince managed to push himself up to his elbows so he could watch. His breathing had long since stopped being even and his heartbeat resembled a baby bird’s wings fluttering uselessly in the wind, but there was no way he wanted this to end. He watched Keith move down his body slowly, removing his pants and drinking in the taste of him with his tongue and lips and hands as he went.

Lance was Altean. He’d been raised to be no stranger to the art of love. He’d flirted with the men and women in his classes at the Collegium but he’d never gone as far as he knew he would tonight. For the first time since he found out he’d been mated to Keith, that thought didn’t scare him. He found himself excited to see where this would go. He wanted this. He _needed_ this.

“Kiss me,” he said suddenly, startling his lover.

Lover. The word filled his mind with a desire that made his bones ache and his skin tingle with need. He knew he wasn't Keith’s first choice as a mate, be he would wager he was the best choice. He hoped he was. The look in Keith’s eyes when he heard Lance command him to kiss him was filled with a fire that matched the heat of his skin and Lance loved it.

Keith’s violet irises were almost nonexistent from how wide his pupils had become against the gold. They were twin spheres of endless darkness that Lance found beautiful. If only he could free his arms so he could take Keith’s face in his hands and kiss him until they were both breathless and needy.

The kiss didn’t come the way Lance expected, but he wasn’t necessarily upset by this. Watching Keith kiss his inner thigh while holding his gaze was erotic, even if the mark he left wound sting for a while and bruise. Keith slowly pushed himself up the prince’s body until their faces were even and he could finally kiss Lance properly.

Keith allowed his full body weight to rest on Lance’s chest encouraging his mate to fall back to the bed. Unfortunately, when Lance did fall back he found his arms had somehow slipped farther into his sleeves which were still pinned beneath his back limiting his movements. He wanted to hold Keith, keep him close, leave his own marks on the halfbreed’s back.

Then a hand trailed a finger down tantalizingly close to Lance's penis. The prince's whole body twitched startling a whimper from him that Keith swallowed in a deep, distracting kiss. The hand moved, squeezing and rubbing the skin around where Lance wanted him to touch, encouraging the prince to roll his hips up into the attention. Slowly, bit by bit, Keith worked his hand closer until he could finally hold the prince’s penis in his hand. Keith’s hand was a flame that singed Lance’s skin deliciously. Lance wanted that heat all over him as soon as possible.

“Keith,” Lance murmured breathlessly.

Keith squeezed him and began pumping him, slowly gaining speed until Lance was gasping and his legs were shaking from the pleasure. His hips bucked into Keith’s hand while his mouth was plundered by his lover’s. The cold from Lance’s bond with the Blue Lion still pooled in his chest; but the more Keith touched him, the more he felt the cold retreat until he was slick with sweat.

“More,” he begged between kisses. “More. Keith.”

Keith growled and squeezed Lance harder than he had before and stopped moving startling a pained cry from the Altean whose legs were shaking from desire.

“One day,” Keith whispered in Lance’s ear, “I’ll flip you over and claim you until you scream.” Lance shuddered with want. “But not tonight. Tonight, I want you to feel every bit of me as I make love to you slowly.”

“Yes. Yes,” Lance pleaded, lifting his legs and looping them around Keith’s so their hips pressed against each other.

“I’ll knot,” Keith warned.

Oh quiznak. “Just take off your clothes and fuck me already,” Lance demanded, startling a laugh from his lover.

Keith sat back just long enough to completely undress so they could finally lay skin on skin. Everywhere Keith touched burned Lance alive, but he wanted more. Lance wriggled his body trying to free one of his arms but Keith planted one of his hands on the arm Lance almost freed and held it in place.

“Did I say you could get free?” he said.

Lance blushed but refused to back down. “I told you once, you will never control me,” he said. Keith’s eyes narrowed. “I said if you wanted me to submit, you would have to make me.”

A dark smile that did things to Lance’s heart spread over Keith’s face. “You’re mine,” Keith growled, his ears flicking full forward and his eyes gleaming gold and black in the darkness. _“Mine.”_

“Prove it,” Lance challenged.

Keith growled and thrust three of his fingers into Lance’s mouth. “Suck,” he ordered.

Just because he could, Lance bit the longest finger lightly earning him a hungry glare before he began sucking them. He never looked away from Keith’s face, watching his lover’s eyes darken with desire. Lance was the source of Keith’s arousal and that sent thrills through his veins.

Sooner than he would have preferred, Keith pulled his fingers out of Lance’s mouth. But before Lance could voice a complaint, something prodded his entrance, breaching him slowly. His legs bent, clamping around Keith’s body, holding him in place above him. His toes curled and his hips bucked, sucking Keith’s finger deeper.

Keith purred and nuzzled Lance’s throat as he moved his fingers in and out of his mate’s body. Finally, when Lance began moving his hips freely in time with his thrusts, Keith removed his fingers. Lance whined and squirmed at the loss earning him a smile.

“You aren’t Galra, so this may hurt,” Keith said, pressing a kiss to Lance’s neck. “If you want me to stop, tell me.”

“Stop and I’ll kill you,” Lance hissed earning him a chuckle and nip for his trouble.

Thankfully, Keith took Lance’s words to heart. He pulled away long enough to spit on his hand presumably to use as lube. Lance’s face scrunched in disgust. “We’re going to get proper lubricant next time because you are not doing that in front of me again,” he said.

Keith snickered and swallowed Lance’s indignation with a kiss. The next moment, Lance couldn’t focus on anything but the pressure at his hole, pushing inside, stretching him wide open. Keith growled into the kiss and Lance shuddered. It burned but Keith held blessedly still once he was fully seated inside Lance’s body. It took a full teck for Lance to take a shuddering breath and nod for Keith to move.

Keith didn’t move so much as rock back and forth in slow, shallow thrusts that drove Lance mad with desire. It was painful but perfect, especially when Keith shifted positions and hit…right…there.

“Ah!”

It hadn’t been deliberate, but the sudden pressure on that one spot inside of him caught Lance by surprise. Keith growled and increased his rhythm, pulling out slightly farther before thrusting back in with more force. It felt like Lance’s body was on fire from the inside out, melting the cold deep in his core. Each thrust drew out a pleasured cry until Lance was shaking and whimpering wishing he could come.

“Frak, Lance,” Keith hissed. “Never do this with anyone but me,” he commanded, feeling his climax come closer with every thrust and pleasured cry that rang like music in his ears. _“No one_ but me. You’re mine and I do _not_ share.”

Lance sighed and let his head fall back, baring his throat to Keith in submission. “Yours, Keithek,” he whispered

Keith growled and bit down on the offered neck as he came. Lance moaned as another heat filled him from within, this one liquid magma that brought with it immense pleasure. Then Keith began to swell inside of him and the pain returned. Knotting. Keith was knotting.

A soft purr filled his ears and he smiled, opening his eye. Keith’s entire body was tight with tension until the bulge of his knot stopped growing, only then did he slump limply on Lance’s body. Lance used the opportunity to finally work one of his arms free from its cloth bindings and began drawing mindless designs on his lover’s back, easing him down from the hypersensitive state he was in.

The green lights dancing in the Balmeran sky acted as a lullaby, soothing the lovers tied together in the darkness. Lance lost track of time waiting for Keith’s knot to return to its natural size. When Keith could finally pull out, he fell asleep almost immediately. It was adorable and Lance longed to stay and cuddle with his lover until long past dawn. But there were things to be done and a spy network to reestablish.

Besides, he didn’t want his new lover to wake up and ask why he never got hard. It was best to just let Keith sleep and forget Lance’s discomfort. There wasn’t much either of them could do about it anyway. It couldn’t really be expected for a people to regularly eat a poisonous plant on a daily basis for practically the entirety of their existence and experience no side effects when that plant was no longer within reach. Symbiotic relationships didn’t work that.


	31. Final Exchange

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Lance takes the first steps to weaving his web resulting in a leap of faith, all under the watchful eye of...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **A/N:** Well, this is it. This is the last chapter of _Chill_. The next chapter will be the preview for the third part and will be posted at the same time the first chapter of the third part, currently titled _Crystal_ , will be posted in the _Warmth_ series.
> 
> As usual, I've given this a once over but I'll edit it more seriously tomorrow when I'm awake. Otherwise, good night lovelies and enjoy~

The shower was a relief and a curse. The water was cold, settling his core temperature back to where it belonged now that the Blue Lion’s power flowed through him. He had begun to grow accustomed to his lower body temperature over the past few turns. It made him more susceptible to the heat but more tolerant of the cold.

Unfortunately, his lover was the Red Lion’s paladin, which meant Keith’s body temperature was higher than what was typical for a Galra or even a halfbreed. Touching skin on skin was a study in sensation. It was addicting and Lance was beginning to crave it.

As it was, Lance’s body was slowly recovering from overheating and the lovemaking session from tecks earlier. He wrapped his arms around himself and leaned back against the cold shower walls feeling the freezing water tumble down over his body until he shivered. Only then did he turn off the water and step out to dry himself off. His clothes were as clean as they could be after yet another round in the cleanser. He was really getting sick and tired of wearing the same clothes every day.

Reluctantly, he pulled his clothes back on, taking care to look presentable. If he was going to convince them to work with him, then he had to look the part. He studied his appearance in the mirror for several ticks before sighing and looking away. The scar from his empty eye socket would never go away entirely. It would remain a constant reminder of Sendak and the awful truth he’d spoken. It hadn’t all been true, but it had been close enough to frighten Lance to the point he'd frozen up, unable to even run.

Disgusted with himself, Lance focused his attention on his clothes and noticed something that surprised him. A dark mark was blossoming on the side of his neck. He pulled the collar of his shirt down and felt a strange fascination when he saw the hickey just above the mated Mark. He’d known about the marks on his chest and legs, but not the ones one his neck. The hickey just above his Mark couldn’t be hidden by his shirt collar. It was too high up his neck.

So why hide it?

Lance released the fabric of his shirt and watched it settle on his shoulders so the mate Mark and the hickey were visible. He could get used to this. There was no reason to be ashamed of his lover or the marks his lover left on him. If anything, Lance wanted everyone to know he was taken. He looked forward to when Keith kept his promise to claim him hard. Lance may not be able to join his lover at the climax, but he still wanted to feel that amazing bond again.

Satisfied, Lance walked out of the bathing room into his bedroom, the light turning off behind him automatically. Keith was still sprawled out on Lance’s bed snoring softly. Unable to resist, Lance moved to his bedside and sat on his mattress. The view screen still showed the Balmeran night sky but the aurora borealis was beginning to fade away leaving the room darker than before. The soft starlight and fading green aurora cast a soothing glow into the room.

Lance’s body still ached from his lover’s knot and probably would for a while, but it was a reminder that he had someone to call his now. He leaned down and pressed his lips to his sleeping lover’s temple breathing in the scent that was unique to Keith. His nose wrinkled when he picked up the smell of sex too and sighed. He would have to clean his sheets tomorrow. He didn’t regret it though. Keith was worth it.

He leaned back and noticed the fluffy ear right in front of his face. Smirking to himself, he leaned forward and kissed the tip of the ear, laughing softly when it twitched. Just to be a tease, he nipped the silky ear, worrying the flesh gently between his teeth. He only let go when he heard a faint rumbling purr from Keith. It was adorable and tempted him to stay.

But he couldn’t. He had to do this now. Reluctantly, he sat up and stood, making his way to the door. With one last look over his shoulder, he stepped out into the hall and made his way to the guest bedroom.

* * *

 

Nyma sat at the edge of the bed staring at the view screen that served as the room’s window. It was black outside with the hint of green light peeking from the top of the screen. She would have enjoyed seeing an aurora. Unfortunately, it looked like this bedroom was on the wrong side of the Castle to get a good view.

She was lost in thought when a quiet beep startled her back to the present. She spun around just in time to see the door to her room slide open. She stood and reached for her knife, letting out a huff of frustration when she remembered it had been taken from her. Rolo sat up from the bed where he’d been napping and leaned back on his elbows.

“I rarely get night visitors unless they’re paid night workers,” Rolo said.

The person at the door snorted derisively and moved over to the view screen. As he came closer, the light from the view screen lit his face and Nyma relaxed her stance. The prince wouldn’t come to them in the middle of the night unless he had a good reason. For a good while, Lance said nothing, just stared out at the simulated night. When he did finally speak, his voice was quiet and serious.

“Normally, I kill people for trying to hurt my sister,” he said.

Nyma tensed and she could sense Rolo shifting to a position that he would allow him to stand quicker.

“But I’d rather not do that right now,” the prince continued. “While I still hold a grudge for that and for keeping me away from Allura, I understand you were acting under my sister’s orders for the second act. That said, I’m sure you had your reasons for the first act, no matter how offensive I'd probably find them.”

Nyma sneered. “Don’t talk down to us,” she said. “No offense, but you don’t know anything about us.”

The prince shrugged. “I’m not trying to talk down to you,” he said. “I’m speaking plainly. You’re right, I don’t know you, but I’m willing to work with you if you’ll allow it.”

Now Rolo sat up completely. “What do you mean?” he asked suspiciously.

“My guess is you were telling the truth when you said you were fighting against the Galra," Lance said, "but you lost your determination and will to continue somewhere along the line.”

“More or less,” Rolo said slowly. “But that’s not uncommon.”

“Is there a resistance?” the prince asked bluntly.

“Against the Galra?” Rolo asked. Lance nodded and Rolo shook his head. “Yeah, I imagine there is.”

“Rolo,” Lance said sharply. “I won’t talk down to you if you don’t talk down to me. Is there or is there not a resistance?”

“Why do you want to know?” Nyma shot back. “You’re a drug addict. The last thing the resistance needs, if there is one at all, is a drug addict.”

“A drug addict?” Lance repeated in confusion, turning to face the traders fully. “I’m not a drug addict. What gave you that idea?”

For the first time, Nyma and Rolo saw the full extent of the damage to Lance’s right eye. It was sobering but nothing they hadn’t seen before. Wounds like that were unfortunately commonplace in the Galra Empire. Nevertheless, it wouldn’t gain the prince any points in sympathy from them.

“Nevermind,” Lance said, shaking his head and glancing back at the view screen. “That’s not why I’m here.”

“Yes,” Nyma said. “Why are you here exactly?”

“I want you to spy for me,” the prince said simply.

“What?” Nyma gasped, completely thrown.

“Spy?" Rolo repeated, equally confused. “We barely even know you. Besides, we value our lives too much to do something stupid like that.”

“I understand if you don’t give me an answer right away,” Lance said. “But I’d prefer it if you did. I’ve been out of the loop for a while now and I need to know what’s happening in the empire in order to help my sister decide where to strike next and where to avoid. Every empire has a weakness-”

“Not the Galra Empire,” Rolo said grimly.

 _“Every_ empire,” Lance said again, “has a weakness. Trust me, I’ve seen enough to know that for certain.”

Rolo snorted. “Yeah, now I know you’re lying. There is only one empire: the Galra Empire.”

Lance shrugged. “You probably wouldn’t believe the truth even if I told it to you,” he said. “The point is politics breeds deceit and weakness. The Galra value strength and the pureness of their race even to the point of discriminating against halfbreeds and any they deem not pure enough to meet their standards of a ‘true Galra.’”

Rolo glanced at Nyma who shrugged minutely. “We’re listening,” he said turning back to Lance.

“I’ll pay you for the information you give me with what I can,” Lance said. “All I’m asking is that you tell me if something happens. Anything from trade routes getting rerouted, a Galra battlecruiser being seen in a typically quiet area, if a gladiator fight is scheduled to take place, anything of use.”

“And what will you use to pay us if we agree, which we haven’t yet?” Nyma said.

“Healing if you need it,” Lance said. “I hear Kadesh pays a high price on the market as well.”

Nyma flushed but stayed silent.

“What about currency?” Rolo asked.

Lance shook his head. “I don’t have any,” he admitted. “I doubt it would be worth anything even if I did. Altean currency is probably no longer in use.”

“Altean?!” Rolo gasped, standing in surprise. He narrowed his eyes and actually looked at the young prince in front of him. “Your friend Keithek said that, but I didn’t really believe him.”

Lance’s expression closed and he looked away. “He didn’t lie,” he said. “And he’s not my friend. He’s my mate.”

“He- what?”

“He’s my mate,” Lance said again. He turned so the light from the view screen hit his neck revealing the Mark there. “And yes, I am Altean. So is my sister and Coran. We were put in stasis during the Great War when Zarkon first betrayed us and declared himself emperor of the known universe.”

“But that was-”

“Ten thousand standard periods ago, yes I’m aware,” Lance said, suddenly looking very unsure and out of place. “That’s why I need to know what’s going on. I can’t keep letting us run headlong and blind into a war zone without taking some precautions. My sister and Coran are all that are left of my race. There won’t be any more after us either.”

Rolo huffed in disbelief. “You have a mate,” he said incredulously. “So sleep with someone who can bear kids. Or let your sister do that.”

Lance shook his head. “It doesn’t work like that. First off, I don’t _let_ Allura do anything. She does what she wants with or without my approval. Secondly, even if we did sleep with someone I wouldn’t be able to get them pregnant and she wouldn’t be able to get herself pregnant. We’re sterile.”

“Wha-” Nyma gasped, completely thrown. “Bu- How?”

Lance shrugged. “It’s…” He shifted self-consciously. “If you’re familiar with Alteans than you must be familiar with the juniberry plant.”

Nyma stiffened, narrowing her eyes suspiciously. “Why?”

Lance quirked an eyebrow at her reaction but continued anyway. “Alteans and the juniberry plant have a symbiotic relationship,” he said. “Without one, the other can’t reproduce. Either way, the end result is the death of the Altean race and of the plant itself. It was our weakness and the Galra knew it.”

“From what I understand,” Rolo said wryly, “you didn’t exactly hide it.”

“We had no reason to,” Lance said. “We were peaceful by nature and operated as diplomats and peacekeepers mostly. We weren’t even a major player in the galactic political field at the time and we were fine with that.”

“Then why did the Galra attack you?” Nyma demanded.

Lance's shoulders fell. “Because we built Voltron,” he said, “and because we had developed a method of using quintessence as a weapon.”

“The weapon from today,” Rolo said, beginning to understand. “He wanted the power.”

Lance nodded. “There's that, yes,” he said. “There's more to it though. Even I don’t everything about what happened. You’d have to ask Zarkon himself, if you live long enough and if he’s in a good mood.”

Rolo rolled his eyes trying to process this. “Well frankly, I’d rather not,” he muttered, rubbing his forehead and plopping back down on the bed.

Nyma sighed. “All you want is information?” she asked hesitantly. “I’m not agreeing to anything, but just to be sure that _is_ all you want right? No daring treks into Galra territory or anything? Just report anything we hear?”

“That’s all,” Lance said.

“And you’ll tell us if you hear anything from your end that would benefit us too, right?” she pressed.

“Naturally.”

She turned to Rolo who met her eyes for a moment. He seemed to be seriously considering the offer. He silently asked her if she was interested and she tilted her head forward in a minute nod. Rolo sighed.

“Fine, okay, we’ll do it,” he said. “On the understanding that you use our encrypted frequency to contact us. Nothing else unless it’s an absolute emergency. Also, we have to keep our contacts secret too.”

“Understood,” Lance said. “I’d actually prefer it if you didn’t tell me who your contacts were. It’s better for all of us that way.”

That seemed to ignite a level of trust from the traders. “There is a resistance,” Nyma said. “We work as couriers and information brokers for them. Being traders gives us access to lots of rumors and hearsay. People are more comfortable talking to us because we keep our trading to innocuous things with the occasional specialty. No drugs or dangerous merchandise. Food and medicine, yeah. But nothing else like that.”

“So you have a good rapport with the masses,” Lance said.

“In general, yeah.”

“Good.” Lance sighed and rubbed his neck, lingering over his Mark. “As a show of good faith, is there anything I can give you right now?”

Rolo leaned back and considered the offer. He glanced and Nyma who leaned against the view screen thoughtfully. She knew how important good faith gifts were; they could make or break a potential partnership. Ask too much and the other party with be hesitant to keep up their end of the bargain. Ask too little and the other party would think they didn’t think enough of them. It was a fine line to toe.

“Earlier tonight, your mate asked me to find something for him,” Rolo said suddenly. “I said I’d do my best but that I wouldn’t bring it to him personally.”

Nyma studied the interested expression on Lance’s face as her partner spoke.

“I’ll get what he asked for,” Rolo said, startling Nyma who shot him a stunned look. “I’ll even bring it to him in person.”

“Rolo-” She fell silent when her best friend held up a hand forestalling her argument. Rolo had better know what he was doing. They didn’t deal drugs, ever. It was a personal rule they swore never to break. Why now?

“But only if you give me a sample of your blood,” Rolo finished.

“What?” Lance gasped, dumbfounded. “Why would I give you that?”

“You’re Altean,” Rolo said. “I’m assuming you want me to spread the word that Voltron is back, don’t you?” Lance nodded hesitantly. “Okay, then if I have your blood, I can have someone confirm it's legitimate.”

Lance hesitated and Nyma felt the trade begin to slip through her fingers. There was no choice. “I know it’s a lot,” she said, drawing the prince’s attention. “But we know someone who knows someone who can confirm whether or not you really are who you say you are and not just some crazy wack-job with delusions of grandeur.”

At that Lance snickered at that. “Delusions of... I understand,” he said, his amusement fading. “I do. But you need to understand that what you’re asking for isn’t something I can just hand over.”

“Why not?” Rolo pressed.

“Altean technology is genetically locked,” Lance said. “Only an Altean can activate and use most of our technology. If I give you my blood, then someone could get a hold of it and clone my genetic code. Imagine how bad that would be, especially if Zarkon or someone loyal to him gets their hands on it?"

“Okay,” Nyma said. “Then how 'bout your quintessence?”

Lance groaned and ran his hands through his damp hair in growing frustration. “Again, you’re asking too much,” he said. “My quintessence is worth more than my blood. Any Druid would tell you that.”

“You know about the Druids?” Nyma asked.

Lance gave them an annoyed look. “Yes,” he said as if speaking to a stupid person. “I studied under them for most of my life. I know what quintessence can be used for and because of that I can tell you my quintessence is the last thing you want floating around the universe without being properly controlled. That’s how disasters happen.”

“Then seal it in something,” Rolo offered. “Even I know the Druids are known for storing raw, I guess it’s quintessence now that I think about it, in crystals for later use.”

Lance sighed heavily and shook his head. “I’d honestly rather have my blood out there than my quintessence,” he said.

“What if we give you some of ours?” Rolo offered.

That made the prince pause, eyeing them cautiously. “What do you mean?” he asked suspiciously.

“I mean we give you a small sample of one of our quintessence in exchange for a sample of yours,” Rolo explained. “But if we do that, then the deal to bring what your mate asked for is off.”

Lance pursed his lips and crossed his arms. After a teck of careful consideration, he eventually nodded. “Alright,” he said. “But just a small sample.”

“Alright,” Rolo said, holding out his hand to seal the deal.

Lance took it hesitantly. “I’ll go get a couple spare storage crystals and come back,” he said. “In the meantime, drink some water and get comfortable. Removing even a little bit of someone’s quintessence isn’t the most pleasant experience and tends to leave people thirsty and tired.”

* * *

 

When Lance returned, he looked between the traders in resignation. "Who am I taking quintessence from?” he asked.

“Me,” Nyma said.

Lance nodded and held out two small crystal shards to the trader, one a smoky quartz and the other an orange carnelian. “Pick the one that you feel most drawn to,” he instructed.

Nyma studied the two crystals before settling on the orange carnelian shard. “Are you taking the other one?” she asked.

“No. Fluorite tends to work best for me,” Lance said pulling a shard of fluorite from his pocket. “Did you get something to drink?” he asked.

“A cup of water, yeah,” Nyma answered.

“Then lie down on the bed and I’ll start.”

“Why does she need to lie down?” Rolo asked, sitting on the mattress anyway while Nyma got comfortable next to him.

“Because, as I said, taking quintessence tends to make people dizzy and tired,” Lance said, sitting on the edge of the bed once Nyma was settled in next to Rolo.

“You never mentioned the dizzy part,” she said suspiciously.

“Oh, did I forget that part?” Lance said absently. “Not sorry.”

Nyma glared at him but remained still. “What will you do with my quintessence?” she asked.

“Quintessence that was originally from something or someone who’s still alive will be drawn back to its source,” the prince explained. “Hold the shard in your hands over your heart,” he instructed.

“I have two hearts,” Nyma said.

“Then place your hands as close to the middle of your hearts as you can,” Lance said.

She obediently clasped the shard in both of her hands and place them over her upper stomach.

“If I keep the shard with me, then I can contact you directly whenever I need to,” the prince said.

“How?” Rolo asked. “Through telepathy or something?”

Lance gave the trader a look of derision. “Hardly. I’ll be communicating with your quintessence. Ready?” he asked Nyma.

When Nyma nodded, Lance placed his hand over hers and closed his eye, willing his quintessence to resonate with hers. It took some concentration for him to find the right frequency. But when he did, he felt Nyma’s quintessence respond to him. He encouraged a small strand to enter the shard in Nyma’s clasped hands, sealing it in place when it obeyed his unspoken command.

When it was finished, he stopped resonating and waited for Nyma to come back to herself. Her pupilless eyes were wide and she was breathing a little harder than she had been before.

“Nyma?” Rolo asked. “You okay?”

She nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. That was…” She nodded. “That was trippy. It’s like I was watching myself from outside my body even though I was still here on the bed.”

“That’s common,” Lance said, nodding to them. “You get used to it until you learn to focus on something else.”

“Where did you learn this stuff?” Rolo asked curiously.

“The Druids,” Lance answered curtly.

Ignoring the dark look Rolo was giving him, Lance pulled out his fluorite shard. He let it settle in the palm of his hand before closing his fingers around it and reached for his quintessence. It answered willingly to his call just like it always had. It resisted when he commanded a small strand to enter the shard, reacting to his hesitance about this. He had to take a deep breath and clear his mind of his resistance before the strand obeyed him, settling comfortably between the crystalline structures inside the shard. Satisfied it would remain where it was, Lance released his hold on his quintessence and relaxed.

“Now what?” Rolo asked.

“Now we exchange our shards and go our separate ways,” Lance said, holding out his own shard first. After a moment’s hesitation, Nyma held out her own as well and together they took the other’s shard. “If you need to contact me for any reason and can’t get through using your encrypted frequency, then use this. Understand I may not be able to answer right away,” he warned. “But I’ll answer as soon as I can.”

Nyma nodded and Lance took that as his cue. He stood and strode to the door, pausing before walking out.

“Thank you,” he said softly, “for doing this for me. Do me a favor and keep this little meeting to yourselves,” he added, tossing a smile over his shoulder. “The last thing I need is for Coran, or worse Allura, yelling at me for hours on end.”

Then he left without waiting for a reply. Whatever happened after this was anyone’s guess. All Lance could do now was wait and watch like the Sentinel he was. If only he knew someone else was watching him. Or some _thing_.


	32. Crystal Preview: Hint

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **A/N:** The official end of _Chill_. Sad, I know. But don't fear. The first chapter of the sequel, _Crystal_ , is up and in the series just like I promised. Here's the link: http://archiveofourown.org/works/8511271/chapters/19507219
> 
>  **NOTE** that this preview is NOT the full version of chapter 1 of _Crystal_. This is just a shortened preview. The get the full version, then read chapter 1 of _Crystal_ available at the link above.

This was the worst part of the job. This was why he’d requested to work with cadets in the first place. Cadets weren’t sent out into the field until they were old enough and had the experience needed to keep themselves alive. Losing not one but _two_ cadets in one night without any explanation from the higher ups was an outrage.

Thankfully, Iverson had done his damnedest to make a montage of the many videos, reports, and intercepted communiques he could get his hands on. Now he was sitting in a study room at a college with everything he had been able to gather loaded on a flash drive, his laptop open on the table in front of him so his back was to the wall, and waiting for the call that would most likely cost him his livelihood.

But this wasn’t about him. It was about two cadets who vanished, and an attempt to cover up the disappearance. This wasn’t how he preferred to get the information out there, but it the only choice he had left.

The video call rang, and he picked up.

* * *

 

He woke up slowly, taking his time returning to consciousness. It was warm and comfortable here. He was almost certain this wasn’t his bed. Suddenly he was fully awake and aware. His body tingled and his mind was slightly foggy from the abrupt awakening but he was clear headed enough to know the sheets and blankets he was currently entangled in were not his.

There was also another body in bed with him. Keithek shifted minutely so he could look down. Messy brown hair and skin a shade or so lighter met his eyes. The sight brought a smile to his face. He couldn’t resist the urge to lean down and press a kiss to his mate’s hair, loving the scent of Lance. The faintest hint of smoke was still in Lance’s hair, but Keith could also smell the prince’s shampoo and conditioner. Lance must have taken a shower sometime last night.

Lance shifted then, pressing closer to Keithek’s side as if trying to burrow into the red paladin’s heat. Keithek smirked and pressed light kisses on Lance’s ear, running his free hand down his mate’s back. His fingers traced every nob of his mate’s spine all the way down to the curve of Lance’s bottom.

“Good morning,” he whispered against his mate’s ear.

Again, he was met by another swat and a tired mumble.

“You need to get up,” Keithek said.

“No,” Lance mumbled.

“I’ll help you.”

“Quiznak you.”

“You really aren’t a morning person, are you?” Keithek teased.

His face promptly met the backside of Lance’s hand.

“Alright, fine,” he grumbled, crawling out of bed. “Stay in bed. But if Allura asked after you, I’ll tell her you were too done in to get up.”

If a ship-wide alarm blared to life a half tock later effectively scaring the prince badly enough to send his tumbling off the bed, Keithek wasn’t to blame.

* * *

 

Shiro stood in front of the cryopod grimly. There was so much they needed to know and the prisoner frozen in stasis in the pod held all the answers they needed. Unfortunately, interrogating the prisoner in using traditional methods wasn’t an option. Allura mentioned possibly the memory core technology to extract the prisoner’s memories and sift through them like a program on a computer. Coran was against the idea, but he’d been overruled.

Shiro wasn’t sure how he felt about the whole thing. He agreed that they need the information Sendak had, no doubt. But he wasn’t sure he liked the idea of Sendak’s consciousness being in any way connected to the Castleship, especially with the remnants of the Galra crystal still causing trouble with the Castle’s systems. There was no way of knowing how deep the infection went. This was going to be a long trip.

* * *

 

He was bored beyond belief. There hadn’t been a significant skirmish between the weak resistance and the Galra Empire for months. However, since the news of Voltron’s reappearance reached his ears, he’d been itching for a fight. He wanted to prove his strength and independence.

He popped a berry in his mouth and chewed absently, swallowing the tiny seed. A hand slid down his shoulder and down over his chest just as a pair of breasts pressed against his back. He sipped his drink before handing it to his companion who took it eagerly.

Honestly, their addiction to the concoction disgusted him. But it kept them docile and obedient and that was what was important. He knew better than to let his pets roam free without a collar of some sort restricting their movements. Zarkon had made a mistake appointing Prorok to the position of commander. Prorok was a fool.

Prince Lotor was no fool.


End file.
